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In addressing the subcommittee Tuesday, House Speaker Bobby Harrell exhorted the members to work promptly so the Legislature can take up issues such as the economy when it returns.
By Mike Fitts
mfitts@scbiznews.com
Published Nov. 25, 2009
In speaking on Tuesday to the subcommittee examining whether to impeach Gov. Mark Sanford, House Speaker Bobby Harrell exhorted the members to work promptly so the Legislature can take up issues such as the economy when it returns.
The subcommittee has to decide, Harrell said, whether the governor’s actions “clearly and without a doubt rise to the level of impeachment.”
The governor’s office gave the subcommittee a document arguing that the charges made against Sanford do not rise to the high level necessary for impeachment.
“A governor’s temporary absence from the state, even if his location is unknown, does not rise to the level of an impeachable offense under South Carolina law,” the memo asserts.
Even some violations of the law do not rise to the level of an impeachable offense, the governor’s office argued.
Rep. Greg Delleney, author of the impeachment article against the governor, said during the meeting that the governor was “AWOL as commander in chief for five days” this summer, and that action alone is enough to warrant a House impeachment.
Chairman James Harrison, R-Columbia, said that he hopes that the subcommittee can complete its work before Christmas, so the full House, if necessary, could consider the issue early next year.
The subcommittee did not discuss the results of the State Ethics Commission inquiry released Monday because it had not yet had time to review it. Delleney, R-Chester, asserted that the governor’s unexplained absence last June rises to the level of “serious misconduct” specified for removal of a state official. “That conduct alone constitutes a dereliction of duty,” Delleney said.
Judgment on the issue belongs to the House alone, Delleney said. “Impeachment is a political process, not a legal process.”
Rep. Walton McLeod, D-Little Mountain, objected to Delleney’s use of military terms such as “an AWOL governor,” calling it “a little shrill for a civilian.”
As a practical matter, McLeod said, there’s no military parallel to the situation.
Rep. James E. Smith, D-Columbia, said he thought Delleney’s military analogy an appropriate one, since the governor commands the state’s military.
“The commander in chief, I do not believe, should be judged at a lesser standard than the soldiers and airmen whom he commands,” Smith said. Smith is an Army captain who has served in Afghanistan.
The subcommittee will meet at least three more times to consider the issues, Harrison said, with the next meeting set for Tuesday, and could go on into January if necessary. Harrison said Sanford is welcome to appear if he wishes.
Garry Smith, R-Greenville, David Weeks, D-Sumter, and Jenny Horne, R-Summerville, join Harrison, Delleney, Smith and McLeod on the subcommittee.
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