COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Sixty-one South Carolina House Republicans asked Gov. Mark Sanford to resign Wednesday, questioning his ability to lead the state since his unannounced summertime trip to see a mistress in Argentina and investigations of his state and private travel that followed.
"Your decision to abandon our state for five days, with no defined order of succession and with no known way to contact you, is inexcusable," said a letter from the lawmakers signed by House Majority Leader Kenny Bingham.
The letter, which listed the names of 59 other lawmakers, came a day after the House speaker issued a similar call. Any move to impeach the GOP governor would begin in the House, which has 72 Republicans, 51 Democrats and one empty seat. Bingham's office said an additional member joined the effort after the letter landed on Sanford's desk.
The chamber's Democratic leader, Rep. Harry Ott, D-St. Matthews, has said his caucus will discuss the governor next month. Columbia Democratic Rep. James Smith, who is working with Democrats and Republicans on an impeachment resolution, said there is sufficient support for the measure to get the 83 votes - a two-thirds majority - it would need to pass the House.
If an impeachment bill were to pass, state senators would serve as jurors for a trial.
Sanford, a two-term governor, has been under mounting scrutiny since his June revelation of a yearlong affair with a woman in Argentina. Three ensuing Associated Press investigations raised questions about his travel, leading one state senator to accuse the governor of breaking the law and the state Ethics Commission to launch an investigation.
The term-limited governor has spent the past weeks apologizing to members of civic organizations for his affair, denying doing anything wrong when it came to his travel and attempting to refocus on his final year agenda of restructuring government.
His office on Wednesday said the lawmakers urging him to resign are perpetuating the distractions they're railing against. Spokesman Ben Fox said in a statement that many are political foes "simply responding to media innuendo and an ongoing political circus in Columbia as a cause for action."
"What this letter does provide is further evidence of a disconnect between the people of this state who want to move forward and many politicians in Columbia who see the current situation as a way to achieve political payback," Fox said.
The AP investigations have shown that Sanford appears to have violated state law requiring lowest-cost travel when taking commercial flights, used state aircraft for personal and political trips, and failed to disclose flights on private planes.
Even more egregious than Sanford's abandonment of his post, Bingham wrote, was the pain inflicted on South Carolina residents by his behavior.
"Your actions have been destructive to our state's image on a worldwide stage and are harming the stability of our state on many levels," Bingham wrote. "Unless major changes are made, South Carolina will find itself perpetually sidetracked by the disarray that you have brought upon our state."
The letter follows one by House Speaker Bobby Harrell on Tuesday. The Charleston Republican also asked for Sanford's resignation, saying his actions "have amounted to a self-inflicted wound that has forced unnecessary suffering on the people of South Carolina."
Harrell's letter was the first from one of the Legislature's top officers and came less than two weeks after a similar call from the lieutenant governor.
While Sanford in interviews with the AP called his mistress his "soul mate," he and wife Jenny say they are trying to reconcile. She has moved with their four sons from the official residence in Columbia to the family's coastal home.
Last edited by Coolhand20th on 2009-09-09 07:33pm, edited 1 time in total.
Folks here prefer you post the article text as well as a link wrote:
By JIM DAVENPORT
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Sixty-one South Carolina House Republicans asked Gov. Mark Sanford to resign Wednesday, questioning his ability to lead the state since his unannounced summertime trip to see a mistress in Argentina and investigations of his state and private travel that followed.
"Your decision to abandon our state for five days, with no defined order of succession and with no known way to contact you, is inexcusable," said a letter from the lawmakers signed by House Majority Leader Kenny Bingham.
The letter, which listed the names of 59 other lawmakers, came a day after the House speaker issued a similar call. Any move to impeach the GOP governor would begin in the House, which has 72 Republicans, 51 Democrats and one empty seat. Bingham's office said an additional member joined the effort after the letter landed on Sanford's desk.
The chamber's Democratic leader, Rep. Harry Ott, D-St. Matthews, has said his caucus will discuss the governor next month. Columbia Democratic Rep. James Smith, who is working with Democrats and Republicans on an impeachment resolution, said there is sufficient support for the measure to get the 83 votes - a two-thirds majority - it would need to pass the House.
If an impeachment bill were to pass, state senators would serve as jurors for a trial.
Sanford, a two-term governor, has been under mounting scrutiny since his June revelation of a yearlong affair with a woman in Argentina. Three ensuing Associated Press investigations raised questions about his travel, leading one state senator to accuse the governor of breaking the law and the state Ethics Commission to launch an investigation.
The term-limited governor has spent the past weeks apologizing to members of civic organizations for his affair, denying doing anything wrong when it came to his travel and attempting to refocus on his final year agenda of restructuring government.
His office on Wednesday said the lawmakers urging him to resign are perpetuating the distractions they're railing against. Spokesman Ben Fox said in a statement that many are political foes "simply responding to media innuendo and an ongoing political circus in Columbia as a cause for action."
"What this letter does provide is further evidence of a disconnect between the people of this state who want to move forward and many politicians in Columbia who see the current situation as a way to achieve political payback," Fox said.
The AP investigations have shown that Sanford appears to have violated state law requiring lowest-cost travel when taking commercial flights, used state aircraft for personal and political trips, and failed to disclose flights on private planes.
Even more egregious than Sanford's abandonment of his post, Bingham wrote, was the pain inflicted on South Carolina residents by his behavior.
"Your actions have been destructive to our state's image on a worldwide stage and are harming the stability of our state on many levels," Bingham wrote. "Unless major changes are made, South Carolina will find itself perpetually sidetracked by the disarray that you have brought upon our state."
The letter follows one by House Speaker Bobby Harrell on Tuesday. The Charleston Republican also asked for Sanford's resignation, saying his actions "have amounted to a self-inflicted wound that has forced unnecessary suffering on the people of South Carolina."
Harrell's letter was the first from one of the Legislature's top officers and came less than two weeks after a similar call from the lieutenant governor.
While Sanford in interviews with the AP called his mistress his "soul mate," he and wife Jenny say they are trying to reconcile. She has moved with their four sons from the official residence in Columbia to the family's coastal home.
M1891/30: A bad day on the range is better then a good day at work.
Wait, you mean the man's still in office? Holy shit. I'd have thought they'd impeached his ass by now.
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Can they add Joe Wilson to the list of people they're kicking out? He's the douche who shouted "Liar" at Obama.
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Darth Yoshi wrote:Wait, you mean the man's still in office? Holy shit. I'd have thought they'd impeached his ass by now.
They clearly want him to resign on his own before they have no choice but to impeach him. They don't want the embarrassment of having to force him out.
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Darth Yoshi wrote:Wait, you mean the man's still in office? Holy shit. I'd have thought they'd impeached his ass by now.
They clearly want him to resign on his own before they have no choice but to impeach him. They don't want the embarrassment of having to force him out.
And to think, it wasn't that long ago that Sanford was considered a dark horse presidential candidate.
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irishmick79 wrote:And to think, it wasn't that long ago that Sanford was considered a dark horse presidential candidate.
He still could be. After all, his tawdry sex scandal involved a consenting adult woman. As Republican Sex Scandals go, that's downright blase and only the fact that he secretly skipped town to Argentina for nearly a week makes it interesting.
If he had skipped town to be with a nubile young Argentine named Fernando... then he'd have no hope (and would have already resigned).
"Show me an angel and I will paint you one." - Gustav Courbet
"Quetzalcoatl, plumed serpent of the Aztecs... you are a pussy." - Stephen Colbert
"Really, I'm jealous of how much smarter than me he is. I'm not an expert on anything and he's an expert on things he knows nothing about." - Me, concerning a bullshitter
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Oh please, people. He'll make it through the end of his term just fine because South Carolina is stupidly tribal like that. He just has nothing else careerwise to look forward to afterwards. All I wonder is if he'll keep futilely trying to stay in the limelight while getting laughed at behind his back, or just give up, divorce, and emigrate for sweet Argentine booty. I suspect the former.
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As I understand it, he did it on the taxpayer's dollar, but (more relevantly to the politicians of SC, I expect) he did it in a state overrun with Christ crazies.
Isolder74 wrote:
He cheated on his wife.....so what?
The issue is he did not merely cheat on his wife, but he vanished for a week while secretly going to Argentina and letting his aides believe he actually was hiking the Appalacian Trail, and left no-one any way to actually contact him.
Since he also failed to designate the Lieutenant Governor in charge during his abscence, if a true emergency had broken out while he was gone there was no-one around able to give certain orders and make certain specific decisions. We're talking about a gross dereliction of his duties. (It was not even like the state could have sent out a helicopter to the area he was hiking or something to pick him up if necessary.)
Also there have been allegations of misusing state funds for overseas trips. State laws say you must use the cheapest option available, which he was doing for his staff, but then using the 1st class stuff for himself, which costs thousands upon thousands more. Sometimes his ticket they are saying was more then what they paid for his entire staff to travel with him.
That combined with the fact he disappeared for that week, continually changed his story on it, well it has led now to people saying either resign or you could face impeachment. Rightfully so IMHO, look what they did to Blagovich in Illinois.
