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State leaders signed a letter in support of Gov. Mark Sanford resigning.
Make that 60
And they all agree that Gov. Sanford should step down
Published: Sept. 9, 2009, 4:45 p.m.
Updated: Sept. 10, 2009, 9:10 a.m.
A letter to Gov. Mark Sanford signed by 60 Republican members of the South Carolina House – almost half of that legislative body – was sent today asking him to resign. A 61st lawmaker, Garry Smith of Greenville, said he would have signed it if leaders had been able to reach him.
Along with calls that have already come in from House Democrats, a majority of that body has now called for the governor to leave.
Today’s letter was penned by House Majority leader Kenny Bingham of Lexington County. In it Bingham cites the governor’s poor judgment in leaving the state for five days in June to visit his girlfriend in Argentina – a trip he did not inform his staff or family about.
Sanford followed the trip with a bizarre mea culpa on live television during which he apologized to his voters and vowed to rebuild his family. Since that time, however, several reports have called into question how the governor has used his travel privileges as governor.
The governor has responded by going on an apology tour, speaking to more than a dozen civic groups across the state (he spoke to the Forest Acres Rotary Club at 1 p.m. today and will be speaking to the Great Anderson Rotary Club on Thursday). Sanford has said repeatedly he is sorry about the episode with the Argentine woman but that he doesn’t want to resign and won’t be railroaded from office by his political enemies.
Still, Bingham’s letter today and another letter penned Tuesday by House Speaker Bobby Harrell concluded the governor’s actions and the media’s reaction to them have distracted public attention from the state’s pressing economic problems.
Smith said he has talked to the governor as recently as Tuesday and finds him very open to talking about legislation and reforms the General Assembly ought to tackle this spring. But, he said, Sanford’s accessibility and competence have been overshadowed by the media circus surrounding his personal life – a distraction that is hurting meaningful discussion of important issues.
“One thing that pointed it out to me, when we had the (House GOP) Caucus meeting last weekend, we spent hours talking about an agenda, legislation and things that were important to the state. Jobs, economic development, tort reform, the red-tape reduction act – things that are very important,” Allen said. “You wouldn’t have known we talked about anything, though, because the only thing that came out in the press was the governor. That was a huge realization to me that we have a problem.”
Allen said economic developers have told him marketing the state is also difficult under the circumstances, echoing a passage from Bingham’s letter.
“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. “At a time when all our efforts should be dedicated to creating more higher-paying jobs and improving education, it is regrettable that we must continue to deal with the distracting consequences of this situation.”
Bingham’s letter also mentions the constitutional crisis created when Sanford abandoned the state for five days with no defined order of succession and no way to contact him.
That and an investigation by the State Ethics Commission concerning Sanford’s travel arrangements as governor have further revealed “a pattern of poor decision making and questionable leadership,” he wrote.
All are arguments that might be used to impeach Sanford in the spring.
Those GOP members who signed the letter included every member of the House leadership team. This would be Harrell, Bingham, Speaker Pro Tem Harry Cato of Greenville and Ways and Means Chairman Dan Cooper of Anderson County.
The House consists of 124 members, 73 of them Republican and 51 of them Democrat.
Launching an impeachment trial would first require a two-thirds vote from members of the House – 83 of them. The trial would then be handled by members of the Senate, which in turn would require a two-thirds vote to force the governor out of office – 31 out of 46 members.
“I don’t see anything that I could hang my hat on as far as impeachment,” Allen said. “But I am very concerned that a lot of things will be backed up by the impeachment process come January.”
Among the 13 Republicans who did not sign the letter were two Upstate lawmakers – Joey Millwood of Spartanburg and Wendy Nanney of Greenville.
“It’s hard to say yet what this is doing to my party,” Nanney said. “I get a lot of people coming up to my district thinking the Democrats are behind this.”
Nanney said she believes political wranglings behind the scenes, exacerbated by a heavily contested 2010 gubernatorial race, are at the root of the GOP letter to Sanford today. She said she saw no reason for the governor to resign.
“Nobody ever recovers from a mistake by just quitting,” Nanney said of Sanford. “If there are charges out there that rise to the level of impeachment, then let’s impeach. At this point we haven’t seen those.”
Article XV of the South Carolina Constitution stipulates that any statewide elected officials, judges and other state officers may be impeached “in cases of serious crimes or serious misconduct in office.”
“I realize some of it is subjective,” Nanney said. “I want to see (the charges) and make sure it’s not just ‘I don’t like that he had an affair.’”
The GOP letter sparked a quick response from Sanford supporter – and one of the few GOP representatives not to sign the letter – Rep. Nikki Haley of Lexington County.
“We can put the names of all 170 Members of the General Assembly on a list requesting the Governor resign, but at the end of the day there is only one person who will make that decision, and Governor Sanford has made it clear that he will not step down,” Haley wrote. “So any further pressure in that direction is nothing more than political posturing, and that's not what we as elected officials ought to be doing.”
She said Sanford’s departure would result in “unchecked power of the General Assembly.”
“What would make things better is if everyone in the political process started acting like grown-ups, stopped the political posturing and media circus, and got on with the business of the people.”
Sen. Jake Knotts of Lexington responded to Haley with his own statement.
“Mrs. Haley has a serious conflict of interest on this issue since she herself apparently flew first class on the taxpayer’s dime, which is a violation of state law. She is a Sanford administration insider. She drank the Sanford kool-aid a long time ago. It's obvious now by her refusal to sign the caucus letter, that Mrs. Haley and her gubernatorial campaign condone the Governor’s actions. She talks about playing politics but now she's doing nothing but catering to Governor Sanford's fundraising base.”
He said Haley was playing the governor’s attack brand of politics by taking shots at the GOP, the Republican Caucus and its leadership.
“It's that 'leadership-by-press conference' that has kept South Carolina among the highest unemployed states in the nation,” he said.
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