Everyone should be familiar by now with South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford and his infamous disappearing act in June. You know the one, where he went to Argentina to meet with his mistress and failed to put anyone in charge of the state while he was gone. He didn’t even notify most people of where he actually was and his wife was certainly not in the loop.

After he was found out, he went before the television cameras and performed a tearful apology. To say that I was skeptical of Sanford and his new-found remorse would be putting it mildly. It appeared to me then, as it still does today, that he was only remorseful because he was caught with his pants down. I don’t know how his relationship with his wife is proceeding and it is none of the public’s business as far as his family is concerned, but it is the business of the public when he has failed in his duties as Governor of South Carolina.

You would think that someone who was caught so red-handed would decide it would be better for him and his family if he were to resign his position and focus on making sure his family did not fall completely apart. That doesn’t appear to be the case with Governor Sanford. Despite repeated calls by members of his own party for him to step aside, he has failed to do so. Now he is facing 37 civil charges of misconduct. Some of those charges are related to his high-priced trips to Argentina. These charges are being brought by a panel of the House Judiciary Committee in South Carolina and it is worth noting that the four members who co-sponsored the measure are all Republicans. There are also three Democrats on the panel. From Time, here are some of the details of the ethics charges.

The ethics charges include 18 instances in which Sanford is accused of improperly buying first- and business-class airline tickets, violating state law requiring lowest-cost travel; nine times of improperly using state-owned aircraft for travel to political and personal events, including a stop at a discount hair salon; and 10 times he improperly reimbursed himself with campaign cash.

Here is what his lawyers have had to say previously about the charges being brought against the Governor.

Sanford’s attorneys and spokesman did not immediately respond to messages left seeking comment. His lawyers have said previously that they consider the travel allegations to be minor, technical issues of state law.

I can’t think of anything I hate hearing more than a statement like that. Do we really have to relegate the decision of right and wrong to a minor, technical issue of state law?

I know we are all supposed to be innocent until proven guilty in this country, but it still baffles me as to why Governor Sanford refuses to step down from an office he clearly neglected in his quest of his mistress. As is noted in an article here and here, we were led to believe that Sanford was a very conservative politician. He was one of the most vocal and outspoken opponents of President Obama’s economic stimulus package, yet it appears that conservatism did not bleed over to his personal life.

My biggest problem with Governor Sanford right now is his refusal to admit he has done anything ethically wrong. He continues to hold to the statement that he can explain the ethics charges away. Maybe he and his high-priced lawyers can accomplish that, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that he is clearly not as conservative as he has led the general public to believe. Is it any wonder we have such a distrust of many of our politicians?

Tags: Argentina, Conservative, Democrat, Impeachment, Mark Sanford, President Obama, Republican, South Carolina

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 at 6:30 am and is filed under News/Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.