By Ashley Fletcher Frampton
aframpton@scbiznews.com 
Published Dec. 3, 2009

In a brief 30-minute hearing this morning, a special S.C. House of Representatives panel said 28 of the 37 charges of ethics law violations against Gov. Mark Sanford do not rise to the level needed for impeachment.

The special House subcommittee, in its third meeting, voted today to exclude from their deliberations charges that Sanford was inappropriately reimbursed from his campaign account for personal expenditures and that he inappropriately upgraded to business and first class on several commercial airline flights.

The 37 charges were listed last month in a report from the S.C. State Ethics Commission.

Sanford must still defend all 37 charges before an Ethics Commission panel, which will decide whether he actually violated state ethics laws. That hearing has not been scheduled.

But the House subcommittee’s action today substantially narrows the grounds for a recommendation that Sanford be impeached.

Rep. Jim Harrison (pictured at left), R-Columbia, who chairs the subcommittee, said members had received additional information about the campaign account reimbursements. With the new information, he said he did not see any expenses that weren’t legitimate.

Harrison also said he didn’t think the flight upgrades were offenses that warranted impeachment.

The Ethics Commission report referenced regulations that require state employees to fly coach unless exigent circumstances require an upgrade. The report said no circumstances existed in the 18 flights.

Sanford’s attorneys argued that the regulations applied only to state employees, not constitutional officers. Even if the regulation does apply to the governor, they said international flights in and of themselves constitute exigent circumstances.

They also said the S.C. Department of Commerce purchased the flights, not the governor, and that previous governors had done the same.

Some lawmakers refused the argument that other governors had done the same as a justification.

Rep. James Smith (pictured at left), D-Columbia, said that while the upgrades aren’t impeachable offenses, they represent hypocrisy on the part of the governor, who has publicly insisted on frugality for years.

Harrison echoed Smith’s comments.

“When you hold yourself out to be the champion of frugality, then maybe you get a little closer scrutiny,” he said.

On Tuesday, the House subcommittee considered nine charges that Sanford violated ethics laws by using state-owned aircraft for his personal benefit. Sanford’s private attorneys spent more than two hours Tuesday trying to put those flights in perspective, saying they were all trips involving official business.

Today, Sanford’s attorneys said very little before subcommittee members voted to throw out the 28 other charges from their impeachment deliberations.

Rep. Garry Smith, R-Simpsonville, today also tried to exclude seven of the nine charges involving state aircraft. But Harrison asked him to hold off on that motion because questions remained about some of the flights.

The subcommittee meets again at 10:30 a.m. Monday. Harrison said members will discuss questions remaining about Sanford’s 2008 commercial flight to Brazil and Argentina, where he met with a woman with whom he was having an affair.

The investigation into Sanford’s use of state resources began this summer when Sanford disappeared mysteriously from the state for several days. Upon his return, he admitted the affair and said he had been visiting the woman in Argentina.

Rep. Greg Delleney, R-Chester, a member of the special House panel, has said Sanford’s absence from the state could itself be grounds for impeachment.

Reach Ashley Fletcher Frampton at 843-849-3129.