Sanford charged with 37 violations of South Carolina law

Dan McCue November 23, 2009

By Dan McCue

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford has been charged with 37 counts of using his public office for personal gain by the state Ethics Commission.
The charges range from using campaign funds to pay for a hunting junket in Ireland to apparently flying halfway across South Carolina on a state plane to get a haircut.
All the charges contained in the 17-page document relate to Sanford’s travel practices and use of campaign funds. They come after a three-month investigation by the agency that concluded last week.
The governor will now be given an opportunity to answer the charges; no hearing date before the commission has been announced.
In a written statement, Sanford's attorney, Butch Bowers, said, "As we indicated last week, today’s notice of hearing confirms that the Ethics Commission seeks additional information regarding about three dozen technical questions from the Governor’s previous filings."
"We are confident that we will be able to address each of these questions, none of which constitutes findings of guilt and none of which we believe rise anywhere near to the traditional standard of impeachment, now that we finally have an opportunity to present our side of the story," Bowers continued.
Sanford’s travel and use of campaign funds came under scrutiny after his five day disappearance in June. The governor initially told staffers he was hiking on the Appalachian Trail and told others he was getting away to write. Upon his return to the state, he admitted he’d left to rendezvous with an Argentine mistress.
At least one of the trips under scrutiny, a June 2008 trip to South America, included a visit to mistress Maria Belén Chapur’s home city of Buenos Aires.
Roughly half of the charges are related to Sanford’s international travel on commercial airline flights between September 2005 and April 2009. On all of the flights in question – to destinations as far flung as Beijing, China; Tokyo, Japan; Frankfort and Munich, Germany; Graz, Austria; and Sao Paulo, Brazil – the governor bought himself a ticket in business class rather than coach.
South Carolina state law requires public officials to book the lowest fair possible when traveling. In each case cited by the Ethics Commission, the more expensive tickets were purchased without any explanation being given to justify the upgrade.
Seven counts focus on Sanford’s use of state aircraft to transport himself and others to events that in no way were related to official state business.
These included flights from the state Capitol to Mount Pleasant South Carolina to participate in a book signing (from which he then flew to Aiken, South Carolina to attend the birthday party of a campaign contributor); two flights to attend Republican party dinners and functions around the state; a weekend getaway with his family which entailed a flight on a state plane between Lewisburg, West Va., and Brunswick, Ga., transporting first lady Jenny Sanford, his sons and others to the “soft opening” of the now-defunct Hard Rock Amusement Park in Myrtle Beach, and perhaps most egregiously, a March 10, 2006 flight to North Myrtle Beach, S.C. to get a haircut.
The Ethics Commission also accuses Sanford of making several inappropriate withdrawals from his campaign fund following his re-election as governor in 2006. While the majority of the questionable withdrawals are for less than $100, a few of the “reimbursements” form the account are sure to raise eyebrows, including $854.90 taken from the account to pay for Sanford’s attendance at a Republican Governors Association meeting in Miami, Fla., on Nov. 14, 2008 and his hunting trip in Dublin, Ireland a few days later.
In January 2007, Sanford also reimbursed himself $249.40 for expenses incurred in attending the annual, black tie, Alfalfa Club dinner in Washington, D.C., and in November 2007, he withdrew $610 for a female staffer to attend the 2007 Republican governors Association meeting in Dana Point, Calif.
Finally, a total of $1009 was taken from the campaign fund over the course of two years to pay for “direct marketing, telephone, cable internet and cable services at the governor’s mansion,” the commission said.
The disclosure of the Ethics Commission’ charges against Sanford come a day before seven members of the South Carolina House Judiciary Committee will meet to consider whether to impeach him.