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Sanford says he won't resign as South Carolina governor
Gina Smith - McClatchy NewspapersIssue date: 6/25/09 Section: Real News
COLUMBIA, S.C. - Efforts by some state senators and Republican Party activists to oust Gov. Mark Sanford lost steam Monday: There were no plans to collectively call for the governor's resignation.
Sanford told reporters Monday morning he has been changed by the controversy over his admitted affair and will not step down partly because his friends worry a resignation would hurt statewide reform efforts he has spearheaded - and that it would impact the 2010 gubernatorial race.
"To be human is to, on occasion, fall flat on your face," said Sanford, who said he misled his staff and others as to his whereabouts during his secret trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina. His staff said he was hiking the Appalachian Trail.
"I've done it in the most public of circles. The question is, what do I learn from it and what do others learn from it?" Sanford said.
"My job is to love and serve as best I can," he said.
A political firestorm among Republican gubernatorial rivals has been brewing since Sanford confessed last week to an extramarital affair with an Argentine woman.
Sanford also admitted to seeing the woman last June on a state-funded economic development trip. The governor promised to reimburse the state about $8,000 for that portion of the trip. But as of Monday, he had not yet repaid the money.
A few of the state's top Republican activists, including Glenn McCall, one of South Carolina's two national representatives to the Republican National Committee, have said Sanford should resign and follow his own philosophy of holding leaders accountable.
U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint told Fox News' Sean Hannity Monday night he was disappointed in Sanford and was still undecided about whether Sanford should resign.
"We're still looking at it," DeMint said, in explaining Republican leaders are weighing how the scandal might affect Sanford's ability to serve.
A deciding factor, DeMint said, would be Sanford's success in repairing his personal life.
Sanford told reporters Monday morning he has been changed by the controversy over his admitted affair and will not step down partly because his friends worry a resignation would hurt statewide reform efforts he has spearheaded - and that it would impact the 2010 gubernatorial race.
"To be human is to, on occasion, fall flat on your face," said Sanford, who said he misled his staff and others as to his whereabouts during his secret trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina. His staff said he was hiking the Appalachian Trail.
"I've done it in the most public of circles. The question is, what do I learn from it and what do others learn from it?" Sanford said.
"My job is to love and serve as best I can," he said.
A political firestorm among Republican gubernatorial rivals has been brewing since Sanford confessed last week to an extramarital affair with an Argentine woman.
Sanford also admitted to seeing the woman last June on a state-funded economic development trip. The governor promised to reimburse the state about $8,000 for that portion of the trip. But as of Monday, he had not yet repaid the money.
A few of the state's top Republican activists, including Glenn McCall, one of South Carolina's two national representatives to the Republican National Committee, have said Sanford should resign and follow his own philosophy of holding leaders accountable.
U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint told Fox News' Sean Hannity Monday night he was disappointed in Sanford and was still undecided about whether Sanford should resign.
"We're still looking at it," DeMint said, in explaining Republican leaders are weighing how the scandal might affect Sanford's ability to serve.
A deciding factor, DeMint said, would be Sanford's success in repairing his personal life.
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