GOVERNOR’S CALENDAR SHOWED DECLINE IN MEETINGS

South Carolina ranks last in nearly every area of public education. The business climate is one of the worst in the country and the state’s unemployment is consistently in the bottom five.

Those problems would be enough to keep most governors extremely busy. But not Mark Sanford.

The State newspaper, still desperately clinging to Sanford as its last source of life support, took an “in-depth look” at the governor’s calendar during his time in office. Shockingly, they found that he really doesn’t do much.

The State newspaper of Columbia reported Sunday that, in 2004, Sanford had an average of almost nine scheduled staff meetings a week as he sought to rally support for his vision of a smaller state government run by a more powerful governor.

By this year, the newspaper found Sanford was scheduling just four staff meetings weekly.

Aides to former governors say Sanford’s calendar shows a governor who had too little to do. The scheduling allowed Sanford to disappear in June to meet an Argentine mistress, an affair that has some lawmakers calling for his removal from office.

Sanford’s excuse for doing so little in office? He was too focused on national issues because he was chairman of the Republican Governors Association… and he wanted to be president.

That statement prompted Mullins McLeod to issue a pledge not to seek higher office if elected governor.

“Sanford has been a disaster for South Carolina for a lot of reasons, but focusing his time and energy on national politics instead of dealing with a jobs crisis and failing schools here at home is right on the top of that list,” McLeod said. “South Carolina desperately needs a governor who can put aside their own personal ambition and focus on the job at hand.”

I’m glad McLeod made that challenge because I, for one, am dying to know whether Dwight Drake or Larry Grooms will run for president some day. The suspense is killing me. Really, it is.