Sanford should stay, two top South Carolina papers say
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/06/30/art.sanfordpress0630.gi.jpg caption="An influential South Carolina newspaper published an editorial Tuesday that said Gov. Mark Sanford should not step down."]
(CNN) - Two major South Carolina newspapers are calling on Gov. Mark Sanford to stay in office.
Last Wednesday, Sanford admitted to a year long extramarital affair with a woman from Argentina. The governor also acknowledged he did not tell his staff that he was in Argentina during a five-day period when his location was not known.
Despite calls from some South Carolina lawmakers and politicians for the governor to resign, Sanford, meanwhile, appears to be standing firm. He wrote in a message to his political action committee e-mail list on Monday that while he considered resigning, "I would ultimately be a better person and of more service in whatever doors God opened next in life if I stuck around to learn lessons rather than running and hiding down at the farm."
The State, the Columbia newspaper that last week broke the story that Sanford was in Argentina, in an editorial Tuesday, says Sanford should stay in office to keep the playing field leveled for the 2010 gubernatorial contest. If Sanford resigns, Lt. Governor Andre Bauer, a fellow Republican but no ally of Sanford, would become governor. Bauer is among a number of candidates who are interested in running for governor in 2010. Sanford is term limited and can't run for re-election next year.
"Reasonable people can disagree over whether it would be better to have Mr. Sanford or Mr. Bauer in the governor's office for the next 18 months. And if Mr. Bauer were not running for governor, this might be a more difficult call. But Mr. Bauer is running for governor, and it simply is not responsible to overlook the tremendous advantage he would have if he were able to use the bully pulpit of that office for the next year," says an op-ed in The State.
The State also raised serious questions about Bauer's preparedness to lead. "Although this could change in the coming year," they wrote, "to this point Mr. Bauer simply has not demonstrated that he has the vision to lead our state.
The editorial questioned Bauer's character and highlighted past run-ins with law enforcement, including the time he used a police radio to waive off state troopers after he was caught driving 101 MPH on a South Carolina highway in a state car.
The paper also questioned whether Bauer was sincere in his suggestion to CNN Monday that he would give up a 2010 gubernatorial bid in exchange for taking over the rest of Sanford's term.
They wrote that Bauer had made a similar pledge before, but failed to keep his promise.
"If we're looking to rid our state of embarrassment, it's hard to see how replacing Mr. Sanford with Mr. Bauer would accomplish that. And it's hard to overstate the potential long-term downside of such a move."
The Charleston Post and Courier also urges that Sanford stay in office.
"Gov. Mark Sanford ended any speculation about his plans to resign on Sunday when he declared, with finality, that he would remain for the rest of his term. That won't end demands by his legislative critics for his resignation in the wake of his extramarital affair. But it provides a measure of reality about their prospects. Like the governor, they should make the best of a difficult situation," says the newspaper in an editorial.
Last week, two smaller South Carolina newspapers, the Spartanburg Herald-Journal and the Orangeburg Times and Democrat, called on Sanford to resign.
what are these people smoking that want him to stay on ? He should go where the girlfriend is and together they should slink off into the sun and get more tan lines and sweet kisses, IF his wife takes him back she will suffer more in the long run as he could never be trusted again, she would always wonder how her kisses were compared to "the other woman" – too many details have been let out and when this happens you cannot fool yourself into thinking he still loved me the most (wake up he loved the dame in Argentina)
To Jonathon and anyone else on here that thinks that certain people supported Pres Clinton, When he cheated on Hillary, I did not support him either I thought that it was not right and I am a woman and a democrat but the difference between Pres Clinton and SC gov is this. 1. Pres Clinton did not cram the morals issue, family values, etc on us like the republicans like to do. When this happened with Pres Clinton this hypocrite called for Pres Clinton to step down like many other republican hypocrites did. I personally think that Jenny Sanford needs to dump his lying behind and tell him where to go. That is the same advice I said when it was Mrs Clinton. I can tell you this much I would not be putting up with any of this if this was my "house" I think that Jenny Sanford is putting on a brave face for her kids but I really feel for her and her kids and I believe that he is a dog and Jenny Sanford needs to put the dog in the pound where he belongs.
if sanford stays, the democrats have a win-win situation. sanford, ensign (senator of NV) will provide democrats ammo to poke holes in the GOP family values platform.
South Carolina has a top newspaper?
What a bunch of hypocrites!!! Family values my butt. He should step down. If not, how can the Republicans call for anyone else to step down for any reason?
What a great state this is. The Governor AND the Lieutenant Governor are both lawless people! How were they ever elected? For a family values state and one that is christian conservative, I have one quote to use from the New Testament and it begins with "He who throws the first stone...." South Carolinians need to remember this if and when they get on their high horses again!
I thought he just admitted that he has been carrying on with this woman longer than initially indicateded? What else DON'T we know? What an untrustworthy creep!
Just another reason to not move to SC. It is amazing.
Hasn't demonstrated the vision to run the state?? Neither has Sanford!
What the heck does it matter who says he should stay or go, the South Carolinians elected him, and if they want him gone then fine, as far as the rest of us, just stop yapping about it.
These "conservative" republicans would rather have a lying, cheating, adulterer that abandons his state to be with his mistress, than a democrat.
BUnch of losers.
Nevermind the Affair or the Hypocrisy, Sandford needs to be fired for a beeing AWOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@Bill, Bloomington, IL. who responded to Jason, " I know you are a democrat and do not worry about the facts but try reading before you blog. So who was the last democrat to lose his/her job over an affair?"
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Governor Spitzer (D) NY
This is a painfull thing for a marriage. The Republicans preach morality – I'm waiting for the outrage. Tap .. tap ...tap ... diddly diddly doo .. whats on TV? Any Republican outrage yet? Wait here it comes –
.. Well you see – it is "kind of" bad, but not too bad, maybe a poor choice. Bill Clinton did it – that was bad.
Now I know what "Hiking the Appalachian Trail" really means after all these years.
You know. We do not know what has gone on in the Governer's personally like nor should we know. This is His personal life, period. I have gone through the exact same thing,still going through it. It's hard, difficult, and stressfull for all parties involved. So I say, let him be. Allow the Governer and His spouse to work it out, if they so choose to. If not then it is His life. Governer, I don't know you , but I have your back and I do not look down on you.
Oh let him stay. He along with Ensign, Vitter, and Newt are now the faces and poster children for Republican hypocracy. It could only mean more seats for Democrats in 2010, not a bad thing .
Of course they want him to stay......the Republicans simply cannot afford any more body count. So if that means they can say with a straight face that Clinton was a devil worthy of impeachment for lying about his little tryst with Monica Lewinsky, and out of the other side of their mouth that Sanford is simply a "human with human failings" whose affair (and lying about it) doesn't disqualify him from being Governor, well then that's the way they will play it. It;'s really unfortunate that the average American does not understand that this is all simply a power struggle game whose players are (well) paid with our tax dollars.
Politics stopped being about helping Americans like you and me decades ago.
Gee guess republicans stick to republicans like glue....and Bauer is UNPREPARED TO LEAD. Heck what is Sanford prepared for.
The republicans whinned and moaned for Spitzer to resign when his Lt. Gov. was legally blind. Guess democrats have more guts and knowledge than the wimpy republicans.
@ Judy June 30th, 2009 12:40 pm ET
Sometimes I wonder just what it matters to anyone what someone does in their spare time. It's important to his wife, but to me, a woman living in MD, I could really care less whether he has an inclination to want to be with another woman or not. As long as he's not abusive, either physically, psychologically, or verbally. . . I don't care. If he's doing his job, what's the diff? Evs, I say.
WHAT PART OF THIS CAN'T YOU GRASP???? HE WASN'T "DOING HIS JOB" . . . HE LEFT HIS JOB WITHOUT TELLING ANYONE WHERE HE WAS GOING SO HE COULD GO TO ARGENTINA TO BE WITH HIS MISTRESS!!!! USING TAXPAYER MONEY!!! GET A CLUE!!!
"He doesn't have the vision to lead this state." But a cheating, philandering, fornicating, adulterous, hypocritical Republican like Sanford does? My, you all in South Carolina don't set the bar very high for vision, do you?
sure he should stay–maybe there are some women there that he can date now
Don't you just love how when politicians have a girlfriend it is demanded that they quit their job, leave all material possessions to their wife and go hide. But when a movie star does it, they total up the kids coming down the pipe (i.e. Mel Gibson) and the stars are so happy. What's wrong with this picture? And when I go on vacation at my job, I don't have to let anybody know where I'm going. Sounds like somebody on his staff is having the problem, not him. Let him do his job.
Isn't this the stuff that the Republicans wanted to IMPEACH Pres. Clinton back in 1998?? Talk of hypocrites!!
S.C. Needs an excutive like Mitch Daniels.
Hardly ever hear him speak or hear about him, and my property taxes went down.
people deserve better instead of a liar,cheater, scumbag that we are paying his salary