Focus now on whether Sanford broke laws

UPDATED:

Now that South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford has explained his five-day disappearance by admitting he was with his mistress in Argentina, the focus Thursday is on whether the two-term Republican breached state law by leaving without establishing a chain of command or spent taxpayer money to pay for the extramarital affair.

State Sen. Glenn McConnell, a fellow Republican, questioned whether Mr. Sanford broke the law when he failed to transfer power to the lieutenant governor, according to the Associated Press.

“I would think that if the evidence indicates that there is a willful effort to circumvent the constitution, I think there would be a chorus of calls for him to resign,” said Mr. McConnell, the state’s top senator.

He also said Mr. Sanford, 39, needs to answer questions about whether taxpayer money was used for trips to Buenos Aires, but stopped short of calling for an investigation. A Sanford spokesman has said no state resources were used during the affair.

Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer said he wasn’t angry at his boss, just disappointed.

“What if there’s a prison outbreak,” he said. “We’re in hurricane season… . What do we do for evacuation. Who calls the shots.”

On Thursday, Mr. Sanford was with his family at their beach home on Sullivan’s Island, spokesman Joel Sawyer said. The governor’s wife, Jenny Sanford, and the couple’s four sons have been staying at the house.

Mr. Sawyer also told the Associated Press that Mr. Sanford has spent the last two days touching base with other elected officials and has apologized personally to his staff.

Mr. Stanford misled his staff last week by saying he was going to hike the Appalachian Trail.

Fighting to keep his composure, the two-term Republican — widely considered a potential presidential candidate in 2012 — apologized to his wife, his four sons and his constituents, who, he said, may never trust him again.

“I developed a relationship with what started as a dear, dear friend from Argentina. It began very innocently, as I suspect many of these things do, in just a casual e-mail back-and-forth in advice on one’s life there and advice here,” he said at a news conference at the statehouse in Columbia.

“But here recently, over this last year, it developed into something much more than that,” Mr. Sanford said.

Ending a bizarre episode that began with reports of a governor who had disappeared over Father’s Day weekend, Mr. Sanford admitted that he had told his staff he was heading for the Appalachian Trail to recover from a bruising legislative session. He also said he had told his wife about the affair five months ago, and they were working on their marriage.

Story Continues →