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The S.C. Supreme Court will hear arguments Oct. 19 on whether to release to the General Assembly the S.C. Ethics Commission’s initial report on Gov. Mark Sanford’s alleged misuse of state resources.
Staff Report
Published Oct. 6, 2009
The S.C. Supreme Court will hear arguments Oct. 19 on whether to release to the General Assembly the S.C. Ethics Commission’s initial report on Gov. Mark Sanford’s alleged misuse of state resources.
The hearing is set to begin at 2:30 p.m.
The court said these proceedings should not stop the Ethics Commission from continuing its “ongoing investigation of the underlying ethics matter.”
However, it cautioned the commission not to release any information regarding the investigation prior to the court’s ruling.
Last week, Sanford filed a motion requesting that the court stop the release of the commission’s report to the Legislature. Sanford has argued that the release of the report would damage him because it would not contain his side of the story.
But Ethics Commission Executive Director Herbert Hayden has said that the commission does not release “preliminary reports” and that Sanford’s arguments will be included in the report to the Legislature, if he gives it.
The commission filed a petition with the Supreme Court asking that Sanford’s suit be dropped, saying it was filed prematurely.
On Monday, House Speaker Bobby Harrell and the S.C. House of Representatives filed a request to become a party to the lawsuit, which asks the court to keep the process open and transparent.
Sanford’s troubles began this summer after he returned to South Carolina from Argentina and admitted he’d been having an extramarital affair there. Questions have since swirled around the governor’s use of state resources and personnel. The Ethics Commission is investigating whether Sanford broke state law by flying business class instead of coach, or by his use of state and private planes.
“This issue is too important for us allow it to be done in secret,” Harrell said. “If the governor succeeds in breaking his promise to keep this process transparent, it will cause all of this to drag on and on. It is time to get this behind us and move on.”
In August, Sanford waived confidentiality, which he said was in the “continued spirit of a fair and transparent process.”
Harrell, however, said the governor is doing everything he can to make sure the investigation is done in secret.
“This political maneuver to delay the process and keep the people from seeing the facts is not what South Carolina needs right now,” Harrell said.
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