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Gov. Mark Sanford initially thought of resigning after his extramarital affair came to light, he said today, but he has decided to remain in office after consulting with friends.
By Mike Fitts
mfitts@scbiznews.com
Published June 29, 2009
Gov. Mark Sanford initially thought of resigning after his extramarital affair came to light, he said today, but he has decided to remain in office after consulting with friends.
After Monday’s meeting of the state Budget and Control Board, Sanford said he expects he will be “a much more forgiving person” going forward as he strives to improve how he brings ideas into the public spotlight.
“Initially, my reaction was to resign,” Sanford said.
But friends such as John Rainey, chairman of the S.C. Board of Economic Advisors, had counseled him to stay in office. Among other reasons, they told him that a resignation would radically rearrange the race to succeed him, Sanford said.
In deciding not to resign, Sanford said he had thought about the example he would be giving his four sons, and the state of South Carolina, if he quit. When you fall, he said, “do you begin the process of getting back up and rebuilding?”
He said that both he and first lady Jenny Sanford have received numerous messages of support.
Sanford said the only trips he made to Argentina were this month’s secret excursion and the Commerce Department trade trip in 2008, for which he has pledged to repay his own expenses.
Sanford’s presence brought an extra crush of attention to the monthly meeting of the board as it tries to manage the state’s finances during this recession. He began the meeting with personal apologies to board members present, including Senate Finance Chairman Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence, who would have a major say in any effort to impeach Sanford. The governor said Rainey had counseled him to immediately get back to administering the state, but “it was important to me” to extend personal apologies.
Once in session, the board approved applying $120 million from the state’s capital reserve fund to cover the last of the fiscal year’s deficits. The state’s fiscal year ends Tuesday.
In other actions:
· The board told the state Department of Consumers Affairs to make up its current deficit from next year’s budget. The agency sought to be allowed to run a deficit of $786,415, but was instructed to plan to make the deficit up out of next year’s allocation. The board needed to send a message to agencies not to show up with a deficit in the last few days of the fiscal year, when options are limited, Eckstrom said.
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