Gov. Mark Sanford spoke with reporters after hearing state leaders might try speeding up the ethics investigation process. Greg Beckner/Staff

Sanford threatens legal action

Gov. Sanford explains why the ethics investigation shouldn't be so speedy

by Anna B. Mitchell

Published: Sept. 10, 2009, 5:53 p.m.

COLUMBIA –  Mark Sanford says he is determined to give his side of the story before his fate as the governor of South Carolina is determined.

In a press conference today, he said he believes some members of the General Assembly are trying to bypass his point of view as they prepare for impeachment proceedings in January.

The governor said he’d learned last night that an as-yet-unprepared preliminary report of the Ethics Commission’s investigation into his travel activities might be released to members of the South Carolina House as they prepare a case against the governor.

If that happens, he said, and the General Assembly opts to impeach him without waiting for the final Ethics Commission report, it would amount to setting up a “kangaroo court.”

He said he would be forced into “legal action” if the Commission does release the report to the General Assembly.

“I’ll use every tool in the toolbox,” he said.

Sanford’s attorney, Butch Bowers of Columbia, said the normal procedure of the Ethics Commission is to look into an allegation and present a preliminary report to Commission members. Those members then vote on whether probable cause exists to proceed with a full investigation – a process that can take months.

“We’ve learned through meetings with the director of the Ethics Commission that they intend to give the preliminary report to the General Assembly,” Bowers said.

Members of the General Assembly would want to have information as soon as possible because they don’t want an impeachment trial to cut too deeply into the spring legislative session, he said.

House Speaker Bobby Harrell responded shortly after Sanford’s 3:30 p.m. press conference saying he’d met with Ethics Commission Director Herb Hayden to talk about points of procedure.

“In my meeting last week with the Ethics Commission Executive Director, which occurred after Governor Sanford waived confidentiality, he confirmed for me the existence of the investigation, and the process and timeline the Commission would follow.” Harrell said in a written statement. “He also told me that they would give a report to the General Assembly at the same time they gave it to the Attorney General, who is the person who requested the Ethics Commission investigation.”

Sanford has been on the defensive this week as 61 members of the General Assembly, all from his own Republican Party, signed a letter yesterday asking the governor to resign. The day before, Harrell also asked for the governor’s resignation.

The letters called into question the governor’s ability to lead given his poor judgment in leaving the state for five days this summer to see his girlfriend in Argentina. The governor did not tell anyone where he was going. The letters also complained that the governor’s actions and subsequent media reports about his travel activities have distracted public attention away from more pressing economic concerns of the state.

Harrell said today that elected officials should be focusing on creating jobs and improving education.

“The Governor’s press conference today proves the points we laid out in the letter we sent Governor Sanford earlier this week,” Harrell said. “The distractions continue, and now he is calling out the Ethics Commission and accusing them of being part of a conspiracy against him.  

The letters were prompted by ongoing media scrutiny and an Ethics Commission investigation into the governor’s apparent violation of several state regulations regarding travel – that is, a requirement that he purchase the cheapest ticket available when traveling (he hasn’t) and that he never use the state airplane for personal use (he regularly piggybacked official business with family trips to cover travel).

Sanford, never a popular figure with the General Assembly, said his political enemies are using minor infractions that previous administrations also committed as a pretext for getting rid of him for their own gain.

“They might as well base (impeachment) on headlines, with all due respect to the media, and my political opponents’ accusations,” Sanford said.

Bowers said the Ethics Commission’s preliminary report, which will consist of documents and sworn statements from witnesses, is never made public. Such reports, he said, are only given to the Attorney General’s Office or some other prosecutorial body with the understanding that the accused will have a chance to state his or her own case at some point.

The Ethics Commission, Bowers said, is operating on the assumption that the General Assembly, because it has the power to impeach the governor, is acting as a prosecutorial body – which, in his opinion, it is not.

“The Ethics Commission hasn’t released anything yet,” Bowers said. “If they do, I would submit that’s against the law.”

Turning the report over to anyone, he said, flies in the face of fairness and due process.

“We have a real problem if members of the General Assembly are trying to influence the process and use it for impeachment,” Sanford said.

Sanford has said repeatedly he has no intention of resigning. During a visit to Anderson today, he said, no one asked him about the Ethics Commission investigation or his trips to Argentina. Real working people, he said, have no interest in the political skirmishes going on in Columbia.

Sanford said he knows he is guilty of having left South Carolina unattended “for a weekend” this summer.

“Whether or not that’s an impeachable offence is up to the General Assembly,” he said.

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Ernest Fernandez  - What is the incentive?   |74.242.91.xxx |2009-09-16 03:09:59 Today we hear of politicians braking every rule from abandoning their constituents to zapping our taxes. Seems like few if any politician at any level has ever read the Constitution. Then we hear we must impeach our governor because he cheated on his wife and we try to find other violations. I can't stop wondering first which perfect person will replace Sanford and second if the real problem is that others have turned against him because he tried to balance our budget, have school choice, etc. Reply

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