Marshall Clement "Mark" Sanford Jr. (born May 28, 1960) is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
politician from
South CarolinaSouth Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
, who was the
115th Governor of South CarolinaThe Governor of the State of South Carolina is the head of state for the State of South Carolina. Under the South Carolina Constitution, the Governor is also the head of government, serving as the chief executive of the South Carolina executive branch. The Governor is the ex officio...
from 2003 to 2011.
A member of the
Republican PartyThe Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
, he served from 1995 to 2001 as Congressman in the
United States House of RepresentativesThe United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
for
South Carolina's 1st congressional districtThe 1st Congressional District of South Carolina is a coastal congressional district in South Carolina. It stretches from Seabrook Island in the south to the North Carolina border and includes parts of Charleston, Dorchester, Berkeley and Georgetown counties and all of Horry county...
, where he held conservative positions.
In 2002, he was elected the
115th Governor of South Carolina, defeating Democratic incumbent
Jim HodgesJames Hovis "Jim" Hodges is a Democrat who served one term as the 114th Governor of South Carolina from 1999 until 2003.-Early career:...
, and was reelected in 2006. Upon his election he was the first Governor of South Carolina with a master's degree or MBA. As governor, he had a contentious relationship with the
South Carolina legislatureThe South Carolina General Assembly, also called the South Carolina Legislature, is the state legislature of the U.S. state of South Carolina. The legislature is bicameral and consists of the lower South Carolina House of Representatives and the upper South Carolina Senate. Altogether, the General...
: notably, he made public statements that he would reject
stimulusIn economics, stimulus refers to attempts to use monetary or fiscal policy to stimulate the economy. Recently "stimulus" has become particularly associated with Keynesian economics and the theory that government spending projects can generate economic growth in a recession...
funds for his state from the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, abbreviated ARRA and commonly referred to as the Stimulus or The Recovery Act, is an economic stimulus package enacted by the 111th United States Congress in February 2009 and signed into law on February 17, 2009, by President Barack Obama.To...
. Following a subsequent battle in the
South Carolina Supreme CourtThe South Carolina Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The court is composed of a Chief Justice and four Associate Justices.-Selection of Justices:...
, he was forced to accept the funds.
On June 24, 2009, Sanford resigned as chairman of the
Republican Governors AssociationThe Republican Governors Association is a Washington, D.C.-based 527 organization founded in 1963, consisting of U.S. state and territorial governors affiliated with the Republican Party.Its Democratic Party counterpart is the Democratic Governors Association...
, after he publicly revealed that he had engaged in an
affair with María Belén ChapurFor six days in June 2009, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford's whereabouts were unknown and there was media coverage of what was described as his disappearance. Subsequently the Governor reappeared and reported that he had been in Argentina with a woman with whom he was having an extramarital...
, an Argentine woman. He was later
censureA censure is an expression of strong disapproval or harsh criticism. Among the forms that it can take are a stern rebuke by a legislature, a spiritual penalty imposed by a church, and a negative judgment pronounced on a theological proposition.-Politics:...
d over the affair because of misuse of state travel funds.
Sanford is also a real estate developer and a medical administration officer in the
U.S. Air Force ReserveThe Air Force Reserve Command is a major command of the U.S. Air Force with its headquarters at Robins AFB, Georgia.It stood up as a major command of the Air Force on 17 February 1997....
.
Early life
Marshall Clement Sanford, Jr. was born on May 28, 1960, in
Fort Lauderdale, FloridaFort Lauderdale is a city in the U.S. state of Florida, on the Atlantic coast. It is the county seat of Broward County. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 165,521. It is a principal city of the South Florida metropolitan area, which was home to 5,564,635 people at the 2010...
, son of Marshall Clement Sanford, Sr., a cardiologist, and his wife, the former Peggy Pitts. Before his senior year of high school, Sanford moved with his family from Fort Lauderdale to the 3,000 acre (1,214 hectare) Coosaw Plantation near
Beaufort, South CarolinaBeaufort is a city in and the county seat of Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1711, it is the second-oldest city in South Carolina, behind Charleston. The city's population was 12,361 in the 2010 census. It is located in the Hilton Head Island-Beaufort Micropolitan...
. Sanford attained the rank of
Eagle ScoutEagle Scout is the highest rank attainable in the Boy Scouting program of the Boy Scouts of America . A Scout who attains this rank is called an Eagle Scout or Eagle. Since its introduction in 1911, the Eagle Scout rank has been earned by more than 2 million young men...
in the
Boy Scouts of AmericaThe Boy Scouts of America is one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with over 4.5 million youth members in its age-related divisions...
. He was a member of Troop 509 of the South Florida Council of the BSA chartered by St Martins in the Fields Church of
Pompano Beach, FloridaPompano Beach ) is a city in Broward County, Florida, along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean just to the north of Fort Lauderdale. The nearby Hillsboro Inlet forms part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 99,845...
. Prior to moving to South Carolina he lived in an ocean front home on the barrier island of
Lighthouse Point, FloridaLighthouse Point is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. The city was named for the Hillsboro Inlet Lighthouse, which is located in nearby Hillsboro Beach. As of the 2010 census, the population of Lighthouse Point was 10,344...
. He also spent time at his parents 40 acres (161,874.4 m²) cattle ranch in
Delray Beach, FloridaDelray Beach is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, USA. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 60,020. As of 2004, the population estimated by the U.S...
. He has a younger brother, William, a.k.a. "Billy".
He received a
Bachelor of ArtsA Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree in
businessA business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
from
Furman UniversityFurman University is a selective, private, coeducational, liberal arts college in Greenville, South Carolina, United States. Furman is one of the oldest, and more selective private institutions in South Carolina...
in 1983 and a
Master of Business AdministrationThe Master of Business Administration is a :master's degree in business administration, which attracts people from a wide range of academic disciplines. The MBA designation originated in the United States, emerging from the late 19th century as the country industrialized and companies sought out...
degree from
Darden Graduate School of Business AdministrationThe University of Virginia Darden School of Business is the graduate business school associated with the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. The Darden School is one of the world's leading business schools, offering MBA, Ph.D. and Executive Education programs...
at the
University of VirginiaThe University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
in 1988.
After graduating from Furman University his first job was as an associate for
Coldwell BankerColdwell Banker is a large real estate franchise founded in 1906 in San Francisco.Coldwell Banker has an international presence, with offices on six continents, 46 countries and territories...
in 1983. He then worked as a project supervisor for Beachside Real Estate at the
Isle of PalmsIsle of Palms is a city in Charleston County, South Carolina, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population on the island was 4,133. Isle of Palms is a barrier island on the South Carolina coast. As defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, and used by the U.S...
, with Pat McKinney and Frank Brumley between 1984–1986. In 1987 while working towards his MBA he was trained at
Goldman SachsThe Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is an American multinational bulge bracket investment banking and securities firm that engages in global investment banking, securities, investment management, and other financial services primarily with institutional clients...
. After graduating with his MBA he took a position as a financial analyst with Chemical Realty Corporation (1988–1990). At the end of 1990 he moved back to
Charleston, South CarolinaCharleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
and worked as a real estate broker on
Daniel IslandDaniel Island is a island located in the City of Charleston, South Carolina . It is located in Berkely County and situated between the Cooper and Wando Rivers...
for Brumley Company (1990–1991).
Sanford founded Norton and Sanford Real Estate Investment, a leasing and brokerage company, in 1992. He still owns the company. In the early 1990s he moved to
Sullivan's IslandSullivan's Island is a town in Charleston County, South Carolina, United States, on a similarly named island at the entrance to Charleston Harbor. The population was 1,911 at the 2000 census. It is also the site of a major battle of the American Revolution at Fort Sullivan on June 28, 1776. As...
, a wealthy island suburb off Charleston, with his then-wife
JennyJennifer Sullivan Sanford is the former First Lady of South Carolina, heiress, and former investment banker.She was married to Governor Mark Sanford, whose initial campaigns she substantially funded...
, and their four boys, Marshall, Landon, Bolton, and Blake.
Congress
In 1994, Sanford entered the Republican primary for the Charleston-based
1st Congressional DistrictThe 1st Congressional District of South Carolina is a coastal congressional district in South Carolina. It stretches from Seabrook Island in the south to the North Carolina border and includes parts of Charleston, Dorchester, Berkeley and Georgetown counties and all of Horry county...
in the
United States House of RepresentativesThe United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
. The seat had come open after Republican four-term incumbent Arthur Ravenel gave it up to make an unsuccessful run for governor. Despite having never run for office before, Sanford finished second in a crowded primary behind Van Hipp, Jr, a former George H. W. Bush administration official. Sanford defeated Hipp in the runoff, and easily won the November general election. He was reelected twice, both times facing only minor-party opposition.
While in Congress, Sanford was considered to be a staunch conservative (he garnered a lifetime rating of 92 from the
American Conservative UnionThe American Conservative Union is an American political organization advocating conservative policies, and is the oldest such conservative lobbying organization in the country.-Organization:...
, opposing
gayGay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
civil unionA civil union, also referred to as a civil partnership, is a legally recognized form of partnership similar to marriage. Beginning with Denmark in 1989, civil unions under one name or another have been established by law in many developed countries in order to provide same-sex couples rights,...
s and abortion for example), but displayed an occasional independent streak. He was known for voting against bills that otherwise got unanimous support. For example, he voted against a bill that preserved sites linked to the
Underground RailroadThe Underground Railroad was an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century black slaves in the United States to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause. The term is also applied to the abolitionists,...
. He voted for the
Clinton impeachmentBill Clinton, President of the United States, was impeached by the House of Representatives on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice on December 19, 1998, but acquitted by the Senate on February 12, 1999. Two other impeachment articles, a second perjury charge and a charge of abuse of...
following the
Lewinsky scandalThe Lewinsky scandal was a political sex scandal emerging in 1998 from a sexual relationship between United States President Bill Clinton and a 25-year-old White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. The news of this extra-marital affair and the resulting investigation eventually led to the impeachment of...
, declaring Clinton's behavior to be "reprehensible." Claiming that he saw himself as a "citizen-legislator," he did not run for reelection in 2000, in keeping with a promise to serve only three terms in the House.
Sanford was listed on the House roll as "R-Charleston," even though he lived on Sullivan's Island.
First term
He entered the
gubernatorial election of 2002The 2002 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 5, 2002 to select the governor of the state of South Carolina. Mark Sanford, the Republican nominee, beat incumbent Democratic Governor Jim Hodges to become the 115th governor of South Carolina...
; he first defeated Lt. Gov.
Bob PeelerBob Peeler served as Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina from January 1995 to January 2003. He was defeated in the Republican gubernatorial primary by former Congressman Mark Sanford. He currently serves on the Clemson University Board of Trustees. Peeler, a 1991 graduate of the school, was...
in the Republican primary and then defeated the Democratic incumbent,
Jim HodgesJames Hovis "Jim" Hodges is a Democrat who served one term as the 114th Governor of South Carolina from 1999 until 2003.-Early career:...
, in the general election, by a margin of 53% to 47% to become the
115th Governor of South Carolina. In accordance with South Carolina law, Sanford was elected separately from the state's Republican lieutenant governor,
Andre BauerRudolph Andreas "André" Bauer was the 87th Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina from 2003 to 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party...
. Sanford and Bauer's wins gave the Republicans full control of state government for the first time since Reconstruction.
In 2003, just after becoming governor, Sanford joined the Air Force Reserve and attended two week’s training in
AlabamaAlabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
with his unit, the 315th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron. While in training, Sanford did not transfer power to Bauer, saying he would be in regular contact with his office, and would transfer authority in writing only if he were called to active duty.
Sanford sometimes had a contentious relationship with the
South Carolina General AssemblyThe South Carolina General Assembly, also called the South Carolina Legislature, is the state legislature of the U.S. state of South Carolina. The legislature is bicameral and consists of the lower South Carolina House of Representatives and the upper South Carolina Senate. Altogether, the General...
, even though it was dominated by his party for his entire tenure. The Republican-led
state House of RepresentativesThe South Carolina House of Representatives is the lower house of the South Carolina General Assembly, the upper house being the South Carolina Senate. It consists of 124 Representatives elected to two year terms at the same time as US Congressional elections...
overrode 105 of Sanford's 106 budget vetoes on May 26, 2004. The following day, Sanford brought live
pigA pig is any of the animals in the genus Sus, within the Suidae family of even-toed ungulates. Pigs include the domestic pig, its ancestor the wild boar, and several other wild relatives...
s into the House chamber as a visual protest against "
pork projectsPork barrel is a derogatory term referring to appropriation of government spending for localized projects secured solely or primarily to bring money to a representative's district...
."
Sanford rejected the Assembly's entire budget on June 13, 2006. Had this veto stood, the state government would have shut down on July 1. The governor explained his veto as being the only way to get the cuts he desired, and that using the line item veto would have been inadequate as well as impossible. However, in a special session the following day, both houses dismissed Sanford's call for reform by overriding his veto–-effectively restoring their original budget (which indeed contained many reforms Sanford had previously called for).
Sanford professed to be a firm supporter of limited government, and many pundits described his views as being
libertarianLibertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
in nature. Later in his tenure, he embarked on a plan to reform methods of funding the state's public education system, including measures such as school vouchers– aimed at introducing more competition into the school system as a means of fostering improvement. The plan, known as "Put Parents In Charge," proposed to provide around $2,500 per child to parents who chose to withdraw their children from the state's public school system and instead send them to independent schools. Sanford framed this plan as a necessary market-based reform.
Sanford also sought to reform the state's public college system. Sanford has criticized these schools as focusing too much on separately creating research institutions and not on educating the young adults of South Carolina. Sanford also suggested that they combine some programs as a means of curbing tuition increases. The schools did not respond positively to this suggestion, however, causing Sanford to remark that "if any institution ultimately feels uncomfortable with our push toward coordination, they can exit the system and go private."
Sanford also indicated a desire to increase the powers of the governor. Under the
South Carolina ConstitutionThe Constitution of the State of South Carolina is the governing document of the U.S. state of South Carolina. It describes the structure and function of the state's government. The current constitution took effect on December 4, 1895...
, the governor is somewhat weaker than many of his counterparts. For instance, many of his appointment powers are shared with the South Carolina General Assembly.
Sanford's first term included other controversies. He was criticized for missing a budget debate and was harshly criticized in a July 2003 article in
The Greenville NewsThe Greenville News is a daily morning newspaper published in Greenville, South Carolina. Along with The State in Columbia and Charleston's Post and Courier, it is one of the three largest papers in South Carolina.-History:...
for delays in signing a piece of domestic violence legislation. A
Time Magazine article in November 2005, critical of Sanford, said that some "fear his thrift has brought the state's economy to a standstill."
According to Survey USA, Sanford's approval ratings ranged from 47% to 55% during 2006. According to Survey USA, in Mark Sanford's state of S.C., Sanford's approval ratings after his admission of infidelity (6-24-09) showed that "60% think the Governor should resign. 34% feel he should remain in office."
Campaign
His campaign for
reelection in 2006The 2006 South Carolina gubernatorial election took place on November 7, 2006. Incumbent Republican Governor Mark Sanford was running for re-election against Democratic State Senator Tommy Moore and became only the third Republican governor in South Carolina to win a second term...
began by Sanford winning the June 13th Republican Primary over
Oscar LovelaceOscar Fred Lovelace is a physician in Prosperity, South Carolina. He was a candidate for the Republican nomination for governor of South Carolina. In the primary, scheduled for June 13, 2006, he sought to unseat the incumbent Republican governor, Mark Sanford...
, a family physician from Prosperity, with 65% of the vote to Lovelace's 35%. His Democratic competitor in the November elections was
state senatorThe South Carolina Senate is the upper house of the South Carolina General Assembly, the lower house being the South Carolina House of Representatives...
Tommy MooreTommy L. Moore is a South Carolina businessman and former state politician who is now an executive of a payday lending association in Washington, D.C...
, whom Sanford beat by 55%-45%.
On election day, Sanford was not allowed to vote in his home precinct because he did not have his voter registration card. The governor was obliged to go to a voter registration office to get a new registration card. "I hope everybody else out there is as determined to vote as I was today," he said. Sanford's driver's license had a
ColumbiaColumbia is the state capital and largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The population was 129,272 according to the 2010 census. Columbia is the county seat of Richland County, but a portion of the city extends into neighboring Lexington County. The city is the center of a metropolitan...
address, but Sanford was trying to vote at his home precinct in Sullivan's Island. According to
WAGTWAGT is the NBC-affiliated television station for the Central Savannah River Area of East-Central Georgia and West-Central South Carolina. Licensed to Augusta, Georgia, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 30 from a transmitter in the Spiderweb section of Beech Island,...
in
Augusta, GeorgiaAugusta is a consolidated city in the U.S. state of Georgia, located along the Savannah River. As of the 2010 census, the Augusta–Richmond County population was 195,844 not counting the unconsolidated cities of Hephzibah and Blythe.Augusta is the principal city of the Augusta-Richmond County...
(whose service area includes part of South Carolina) Sanford declared that it would be his last campaign.
Political actions
In dissent with the Republican Party of South Carolina, Sanford, an
EpiscopalianThe Episcopal Church is a mainline Anglican Christian church found mainly in the United States , but also in Honduras, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands and parts of Europe...
, opposed the faith-based license plates his state offers, marketed largely to the state's conservative evangelical citizens. After allowing the law to pass without his signature, he wrote "It is my personal view that the largest proclamation of one's faith ought to be in how one lives his life."
After the passage of the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, abbreviated ARRA and commonly referred to as the Stimulus or The Recovery Act, is an economic stimulus package enacted by the 111th United States Congress in February 2009 and signed into law on February 17, 2009, by President Barack Obama.To...
, which Governor Sanford strongly opposed and publicly criticized before and after its passage by
CongressThe United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
and presidential signing, Sanford initially indicated he might not accept all of the funds allotted by the spending law to South Carolina. He was criticized by many Democrats and some moderate Republicans both in his state and outside who noted South Carolina's 9.5% unemployment rate (one of the highest in the country) and complained that Sanford wasn't doing enough to improve economic conditions in his state, which could be alleviated by the stimulus money.
Arnold SchwarzeneggerArnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
, the Republican
governorThe Governor of California is the chief executive of the California state government, whose responsibilities include making annual State of the State addresses to the California State Legislature, submitting the budget, and ensuring that state laws are enforced...
of
CaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, suggested that if Sanford or other governors rejected their portion of stimulus funds, he would be happy to take them instead.
On March 11, 2009, Sanford became the first United States governor to formally reject a portion of the federal stimulus money earmarked by Congress for the state of South Carolina. Sanford compromised to accept the federal money on condition that the state legislature provide matching funds to pay down the South Carolina state debt. On April 3, 2009, Sanford signed paperwork enabling South Carolina to receive the bailout money.
Rankings
In its April 2010 report, ethics watchdog group
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in WashingtonCitizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington is a nonprofit 501 organization that describes itself as "dedicated to promoting ethics and accountability in government and public life by targeting government officials – regardless of party affiliation – who sacrifice the common good to...
named Sanford one of 11 "worst governors" in the United States because of various ethics issues throughout Sanford's term as governor and his time in Congress. Some of Sanford's ethics lapses cited by the watchdog include:
- Abused his office for his personal benefit and the benefit of his friends
- Violated campaign finance laws by failing to report in-kind contributions and improperly converting campaign funds for personal use
- Subordinated his responsibilities to his pursuit of an extramarital affair
- Endangered his state’s economy by threatening to refuse stimulus funds
The
libertarianLibertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
Cato InstituteThe Cato Institute is a libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1977 by Edward H. Crane, who remains president and CEO, and Charles Koch, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the conglomerate Koch Industries, Inc., the largest privately held...
ranked Mark Sanford as the best governor in America in their 2010 fiscal policy report card, describing him as "a staunch supporter of spending restraint and pro-growth tax reforms".
Disappearance and extramarital affair
From June 18 until June 24, 2009, the whereabouts of Governor Sanford were unknown to the public, as well as to his wife and the State Law Enforcement Division, which provides security for him, garnering nationwide news coverage.
Lieutenant GovernorIn the United States, 43 of the 50 states have a separate, full-time office of lieutenant governor. In most cases, the lieutenant governor is the highest officer of state after the governor, standing in for that officer when he or she is absent from the state or temporarily incapacitated...
André BauerRudolph Andreas "André" Bauer was the 87th Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina from 2003 to 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party...
announced that he could not "take lightly that his staff has not had communication with him for more than four days, and that no one, including his own family, knows his whereabouts."
Before his disappearance, Governor Sanford told his staff that he would be hiking on the
Appalachian TrailThe Appalachian National Scenic Trail, generally known as the Appalachian Trail or simply the AT, is a marked hiking trail in the eastern United States extending between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine. It is approximately long...
and while he was gone he did not answer 15 cell phone calls from his chief of staff Scott English; he also failed to call his family on Father's Day.
Several hours after a reporter intercepted Governor Sanford arriving at Atlanta's airport after flying back from
ArgentinaArgentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, and upon learning that incriminating evidence was being swiftly mobilized against him by the media, Sanford held a news conference, during which he admitted that he had been unfaithful to his wife.
In emotional interviews with the
Associated PressThe Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
over two days, Mark Sanford said he would die "knowing that I had met my soul mate." Sanford also said that he "crossed the lines" with a handful of other women during 20 years of marriage, but not as far as he did with his mistress.
"There were a handful of instances wherein I crossed the lines I shouldn't have crossed as a married man, but never crossed the ultimate line," he said.
On June 25,
La NaciónLa Nación is an Argentine daily newspaper. The country's leading conservative paper, the centrist Clarín is its main competitor. It is the only newspaper in Argentina still published in broadsheet format.-Overview:...
, a
Buenos AiresBuenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
newspaper, identified the Argentine woman as María Belén Chapur, a 43-year-old divorced mother of two with a university degree in
international relationsInternational relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...
who lives in the city of
Buenos AiresBuenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
and works as a commodity broker .
The State earlier had published details of e-mails between Sanford and a woman only identified as "Maria." Sanford met Chapur at a dance in
UruguayUruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
in 2001 and admitted there was a more intimate relationship with her starting in 2008.
Sanford's wife had become aware of her husband's infidelities around five months before the scandal broke, and the two had sought marriage counseling. She said that she had requested a
trial separationA trial separation is an informal splitting of a couple. Unlike legal separation, this is purely a personal arrangement and does not require legal proceedings...
about two weeks before his disappearance.
Governor Sanford told reporters that months before his affair became public he had sought counsel at a controversial religious organization called
The FamilyThe Fellowship, also known as the Family, is a U.S.-based religious and political organization founded in 1935 by Abraham Vereide. The stated purpose of the Fellowship is to provide a fellowship forum for decision makers to share in Bible studies, prayer meetings, worship experiences and to...
, of which he became a member when he was a Representative in Washington, D.C. from 1995 to 2001.
Fallout from scandal
His wife,
Jenny SanfordJennifer Sullivan Sanford is the former First Lady of South Carolina, heiress, and former investment banker.She was married to Governor Mark Sanford, whose initial campaigns she substantially funded...
, after telling
VogueVogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine that is published monthly in 18 national and one regional edition by Condé Nast.-History:In 1892 Arthur Turnure founded Vogue as a weekly publication in the United States. When he died in 1909, Condé Montrose Nast picked up the magazine and slowly began...
magazine that her husband was having a “midlife crisis”, moved out of the
South Carolina Governor's MansionThe South Carolina Governor's Mansion is a historic U.S. governor's mansion in the Arsenal Hill neighborhood of Columbia, South Carolina and the official residence of the Governor of South Carolina. It is a Federal style home influenced by British Colonial plantations...
, with the couple’s four sons, returning to the family home on Sullivan's Island.
On December 11, 2009,
Jenny SanfordJennifer Sullivan Sanford is the former First Lady of South Carolina, heiress, and former investment banker.She was married to Governor Mark Sanford, whose initial campaigns she substantially funded...
announced that she was filing for divorce, calling it a "sad and painful process." On February 26, 2010, a
Charleston County, South CarolinaCharleston County is a county located in the U.S. state of South Carolina. According to a 2005 U.S. Census Bureau estimate, its population was 330,368. Its county seat is Charleston. It is the third-most populous county in the state . Charleston County was created in 1901 by an act of the South...
Family Court Judge approved her request.
Resignation as Chairman of the Republican Governors Association
Sanford resigned as Chairman of the
Republican Governors AssociationThe Republican Governors Association is a Washington, D.C.-based 527 organization founded in 1963, consisting of U.S. state and territorial governors affiliated with the Republican Party.Its Democratic Party counterpart is the Democratic Governors Association...
, and he was swiftly succeeded by
MississippiMississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
Governor
Haley BarbourHaley Reeves Barbour is an American Republican politician currently serving as the 63rd Governor of Mississippi. He gained a national spotlight in August 2005 after Mississippi was hit by Hurricane Katrina. Barbour won re-election as Governor in 2007...
. In a June 29 email to members of his political action committee, Sanford said he had no intention of resigning as Governor.
Reimbursement for his private use of public funds
After his affair was revealed in June 2009, Sanford first claimed, "There's been a lot of speculation and innuendo on whether or not public moneys were used to advance my admitted unfaithfulness. To be very clear: no public money was ever used in connection with this." After a reporter used the Freedom of Information Act to seek records of what public funds were used to pay for Sanford's trip to Argentina, Sanford eventually chose to reimburse taxpayers for expenses he had incurred one year earlier with his mistress in Argentina. He said, "I made a mistake while I was there in meeting with the woman who I was unfaithful to my wife with. That has raised some very legitimate concerns and questions, and as such I am going to reimburse the state for the full cost of the Argentina leg of this trip.” On August 9, 2009, the AP reported that Sanford may have violated state law by other abusive use of state planes, including to fly to get a haircut.
Impeachment proceedings
On August 25, state representatives
Nathan BallentineNathan Ballentine is a Republican member of the South Carolina House of Representatives, representing the House District 71 since 2005.Nathan was born in Richland County and, for almost two decades, has chosen to work, live, and raise his family in the community named after his ancestors...
and Gary Simrill met with Sanford and warned him that the state legislature would impeach him if he did not resign. Ballentine, an ally of Sanford's, said afterward, "I told him the writing is on the wall. ...he could put an end to it all, but if he doesn't, members of the House will take things into their hands." Sanford still declined to resign.
On August 28,
The Washington TimesThe Washington Times is a daily broadsheet newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. It was founded in 1982 by Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon, and until 2010 was owned by News World Communications, an international media conglomerate associated with the...
reported that Republican lawmakers in South Carolina were "laying plans" for a special legislative session on whether to impeach Sanford. Two bills of impeachment were being prepared, with bipartisan support in the state legislature.
On October 23, 2009, two impeachment resolutions were introduced, but were blocked by Democrats in the South Carolina legislature. A month later, the resolution was successfully introduced and it was announced that an
ad hoc committee would begin drafting articles of impeachment starting on November 24. Meanwhile, the Ethics Commission formally charged the Governor with 37 violations. making his removal or resignation all that more likely.
On December 3, during its third public hearing on the matter, the ad hoc committee unanimously voted to remove the vast majority of charges from the investigation, stating that they didn't warrant "overturning an election." On December 9, the committee voted 6-1 against impeachment, stating that the legislature had better things to do. However, the committee voted unanimously to censure the governor. On the 16th the full House Judiciary Committee voted 15-6 to formally end the process.
Censure
On December 15, 2009, the House Judiciary Committee voted unanimously to censure Governor Sanford. The full
South Carolina House of RepresentativesThe South Carolina House of Representatives is the lower house of the South Carolina General Assembly, the upper house being the South Carolina Senate. It consists of 124 Representatives elected to two year terms at the same time as US Congressional elections...
voted 102-11 on the resolution in January 2010.
Role in 2008 presidential election
In 2006, before the midterm elections, some commentators discussed the possibility of Sanford running for president. He said that he would not run, and claimed that his re-election bid would be his last election, win or lose. After
Super TuesdaySuper Tuesday 2008, Super Duper Tuesday, Mega Tuesday, Giga Tuesday, Tsunami Tuesday, and The Tuesday of Destiny are names for February 5, 2008, the day on which the largest simultaneous number of state U.S. presidential primary elections in the history of U.S. primaries were held...
in 2008, Governor Sanford received some mention as a potential running mate for the presumptive
RepublicanThe Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
presidential candidate,
John McCainJohn Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
.
Sanford publicly aligned himself with McCain in a March 15, 2008, piece in the Wall Street Journal. Likening the presidential race to a
footballAmerican football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
game at halftime, Sanford noted that he "sat out the first half, not endorsing a candidate...But I'm now stepping onto the field and going to work to help John McCain. It's important that conservatives do the same."
On January 11, 2008, shortly before the South Carolina presidential primaries (R Jan 19, D Jan 26), Governor Sanford published a guest column in the
ColumbiaColumbia is the state capital and largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The population was 129,272 according to the 2010 census. Columbia is the county seat of Richland County, but a portion of the city extends into neighboring Lexington County. The city is the center of a metropolitan...
newspaper
The State. In the article, "Obama's Symbolism Here", Sanford wrote, "I won't be voting for Barack Obama for president," but noted the "historical burden" borne by South Carolinians on the topic of race. He advised voters in South Carolina to take note of the symbolism of Obama's early success, with the knowledge that South Carolina was a segregated state less than fifty years earlier, and discouraged voting either for or against Obama on the basis of his race.
In a January 18, 2008 interview with
CNNCable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
's
Wolf BlitzerWolf Isaac Blitzer is an American journalist who has been a CNN reporter since 1990. Blitzer is currently the host of the newscast The Situation Room and was the host of the Sunday talk show Late Edition until it was discontinued on January 11, 2009...
, Sanford discussed his Obama article. Wolf Blitzer asked, "Give us your mind-set. Why did you think it was so important to write this piece right now at this critical moment?" Governor Sanford responded, "Well, it plays into a larger conversation that we're having as a family of South Carolinians on, in fact, the [constitutional] structure of our government." Also, Wolf Blitzer showed Sanford clips of recent comments made by John McCain and
Mike HuckabeeMichael "Mike" Dale Huckabee is an American politician who served as the 44th Governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007. He was a candidate in the 2008 United States Republican presidential primaries, finishing second in delegate count and third in both popular vote and number of states won . He won...
about the Confederate battle flag and asked the Governor, "All right, two different positions, obviously. Who's right in this?" Sanford responded, "Well, it depends who you talk to." Sanford elaborated that "if you were to talk to the vast majority of South Carolinians, they would say that we do not need to be debating where the Confederate flag is or is not."
Sanford attracted derision in the
liberalLiberalism in the United States is a broad political philosophy centered on the unalienable rights of the individual. The fundamental liberal ideals of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion for all belief systems, and the separation of church and state, right to due process...
blogosphereThe blogosphere is made up of all blogs and their interconnections. The term implies that blogs exist together as a connected community or as a social network in which everyday authors can publish their opinions...
and among pundits and analysts on the left for a gaffe during an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer on July 13, 2008, when he had difficulty answering a question about differences between Senator McCain and incumbent President
George W. BushGeorge Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
on economic policy. "I'm drawing a blank, and I hate when I do that, especially on television," joked Sanford.
Possible 2012 candidacy
As early as January 2008, there had been anticipation that Mark Sanford would run for
President in 2012The United States presidential election of 2012 is the next United States presidential election, to be held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012. It will be the 57th quadrennial presidential election in which presidential electors, who will actually elect the President and the Vice President of the United...
, and online support groups have sprung up on virtual social networks like
FacebookFacebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
in support of a Sanford ticket.
Further boosting Sanford's profile in advance of a potential candidacy, which the governor has neither ruled out nor expressly hinted at, he was elected as Chairman of the
Republican Governors AssociationThe Republican Governors Association is a Washington, D.C.-based 527 organization founded in 1963, consisting of U.S. state and territorial governors affiliated with the Republican Party.Its Democratic Party counterpart is the Democratic Governors Association...
in November 2008 and was cited by
Michael S. SteeleMichael Stephen Steele is an American politician who served as the first African-American chairman of the Republican National Committee from January 2009 until January 2011. From 2003 to 2007, he was the seventh Lieutenant Governor of Maryland, the first African American elected to statewide...
, the Chairman of the
Republican PartyThe Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
as one of four "rising stars" in the GOP (alongside Governors
Bobby JindalPiyush "Bobby" Jindal is the 55th and current Governor of Louisiana and formerly a member of the United States House of Representatives. He is a member of the Republican Party....
of
LouisianaLouisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
,
Tim PawlentyTimothy James "Tim" Pawlenty , also known affectionately among supporters as T-Paw, is an American politician who served as the 39th Governor of Minnesota . He was a Republican candidate for President of the United States in the 2012 election from May to August 2011...
of
MinnesotaMinnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
and
Sarah PalinSarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice-presidency.She was...
of
AlaskaAlaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
) in February 2009. Sanford also received early support for a presidential run from the
Republican Liberty CaucusThe Republican Liberty Caucus is a political action organization dedicated to promoting the ideals of individual liberty, limited government and free market economics within the Republican Party in the United States. It is part of the libertarian wing of the Republican Party...
.
On February 22, 2009, Governor Sanford declined to rule out a possible presidential bid in 2012, though he professed to have no current plans to run for national office.
Washington Post blogger Chris Cillizza says that revelations of an extramarital affair in June 2009 ended Sanford's chances of being a serious candidate in 2012.
On January 4, 2010, Governor Sanford admitted that, "If there's anything that's abundantly clear, it's that I ain't running for president." In the same Republican meeting, he also indicated that he would enter the private sector after his last 11 months as Governor.
Post-Political Career
Following completion of his service as Governor of South Carolina in January, 2011, Sanford moved to his family farm in
Beaufort County, South Carolina-National protected areas:*Ernest F. Hollings ACE Basin National Wildlife Refuge *Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 155,215 people, 45,532 households, and 33,056 families residing in the county. The population density was 206 people per...
. In October, 2011, he was hired as a paid political contributor for
Fox News ChannelFox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...
.
Books
In 2000 Sanford's first book,
The Trust Committed To Me, was published. It discussed
term limitA term limit is a legal restriction that limits the number of terms a person may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method to curb the potential for monopoly, where a leader effectively becomes "president for...
s, and featured a foreword by
Robert NovakRobert David Sanders "Bob" Novak was an American syndicated columnist, journalist, television personality, author, and conservative political commentator. After working for two newspapers before serving for the U.S. Army in the Korean War, he became a reporter for the Associated Press and then for...
. A second book, titled
Within Our Means, was scheduled to be published by
SentinelSentinel was established in 2003 as a dedicated conservative imprint within Penguin Group . It publishes a wide variety of right-of-center books on subjects like politics, history, public policy, culture, religion and international relations...
in 2010: however the contract was terminated by mutual agreement after the revelation of Sanford's extramarital affair.
Electoral history
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{{for|the basketball player|Mark Sanford (basketball)}}
Marshall Clement "Mark" Sanford Jr. (born May 28, 1960) is an AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
politician from South CarolinaSouth Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
, who was the 115th Governor of South CarolinaThe Governor of the State of South Carolina is the head of state for the State of South Carolina. Under the South Carolina Constitution, the Governor is also the head of government, serving as the chief executive of the South Carolina executive branch. The Governor is the ex officio...
from 2003 to 2011.
A member of the Republican PartyThe Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
, he served from 1995 to 2001 as Congressman in the United States House of RepresentativesThe United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
for South Carolina's 1st congressional districtThe 1st Congressional District of South Carolina is a coastal congressional district in South Carolina. It stretches from Seabrook Island in the south to the North Carolina border and includes parts of Charleston, Dorchester, Berkeley and Georgetown counties and all of Horry county...
, where he held conservative positions.
In 2002, he was elected the 115th Governor of South Carolina, defeating Democratic incumbent Jim HodgesJames Hovis "Jim" Hodges is a Democrat who served one term as the 114th Governor of South Carolina from 1999 until 2003.-Early career:...
, and was reelected in 2006. Upon his election he was the first Governor of South Carolina with a master's degree or MBA. As governor, he had a contentious relationship with the South Carolina legislatureThe South Carolina General Assembly, also called the South Carolina Legislature, is the state legislature of the U.S. state of South Carolina. The legislature is bicameral and consists of the lower South Carolina House of Representatives and the upper South Carolina Senate. Altogether, the General...
: notably, he made public statements that he would reject stimulusIn economics, stimulus refers to attempts to use monetary or fiscal policy to stimulate the economy. Recently "stimulus" has become particularly associated with Keynesian economics and the theory that government spending projects can generate economic growth in a recession...
funds for his state from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, abbreviated ARRA and commonly referred to as the Stimulus or The Recovery Act, is an economic stimulus package enacted by the 111th United States Congress in February 2009 and signed into law on February 17, 2009, by President Barack Obama.To...
. Following a subsequent battle in the South Carolina Supreme CourtThe South Carolina Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The court is composed of a Chief Justice and four Associate Justices.-Selection of Justices:...
, he was forced to accept the funds.
On June 24, 2009, Sanford resigned as chairman of the Republican Governors AssociationThe Republican Governors Association is a Washington, D.C.-based 527 organization founded in 1963, consisting of U.S. state and territorial governors affiliated with the Republican Party.Its Democratic Party counterpart is the Democratic Governors Association...
, after he publicly revealed that he had engaged in an affair with María Belén ChapurFor six days in June 2009, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford's whereabouts were unknown and there was media coverage of what was described as his disappearance. Subsequently the Governor reappeared and reported that he had been in Argentina with a woman with whom he was having an extramarital...
, an Argentine woman. He was later censureA censure is an expression of strong disapproval or harsh criticism. Among the forms that it can take are a stern rebuke by a legislature, a spiritual penalty imposed by a church, and a negative judgment pronounced on a theological proposition.-Politics:...
d over the affair because of misuse of state travel funds.
Sanford is also a real estate developer and a medical administration officer in the U.S. Air Force ReserveThe Air Force Reserve Command is a major command of the U.S. Air Force with its headquarters at Robins AFB, Georgia.It stood up as a major command of the Air Force on 17 February 1997....
.
Early life
Marshall Clement Sanford, Jr. was born on May 28, 1960, in Fort Lauderdale, FloridaFort Lauderdale is a city in the U.S. state of Florida, on the Atlantic coast. It is the county seat of Broward County. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 165,521. It is a principal city of the South Florida metropolitan area, which was home to 5,564,635 people at the 2010...
, son of Marshall Clement Sanford, Sr., a cardiologist, and his wife, the former Peggy Pitts. Before his senior year of high school, Sanford moved with his family from Fort Lauderdale to the 3,000 acre (1,214 hectare) Coosaw Plantation near Beaufort, South CarolinaBeaufort is a city in and the county seat of Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1711, it is the second-oldest city in South Carolina, behind Charleston. The city's population was 12,361 in the 2010 census. It is located in the Hilton Head Island-Beaufort Micropolitan...
. Sanford attained the rank of Eagle ScoutEagle Scout is the highest rank attainable in the Boy Scouting program of the Boy Scouts of America . A Scout who attains this rank is called an Eagle Scout or Eagle. Since its introduction in 1911, the Eagle Scout rank has been earned by more than 2 million young men...
in the Boy Scouts of AmericaThe Boy Scouts of America is one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with over 4.5 million youth members in its age-related divisions...
. He was a member of Troop 509 of the South Florida Council of the BSA chartered by St Martins in the Fields Church of Pompano Beach, FloridaPompano Beach ) is a city in Broward County, Florida, along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean just to the north of Fort Lauderdale. The nearby Hillsboro Inlet forms part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 99,845...
. Prior to moving to South Carolina he lived in an ocean front home on the barrier island of Lighthouse Point, FloridaLighthouse Point is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. The city was named for the Hillsboro Inlet Lighthouse, which is located in nearby Hillsboro Beach. As of the 2010 census, the population of Lighthouse Point was 10,344...
. He also spent time at his parents 40 acres (161,874.4 m²) cattle ranch in Delray Beach, FloridaDelray Beach is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, USA. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 60,020. As of 2004, the population estimated by the U.S...
. He has a younger brother, William, a.k.a. "Billy".
He received a Bachelor of ArtsA Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree in businessA business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
from Furman UniversityFurman University is a selective, private, coeducational, liberal arts college in Greenville, South Carolina, United States. Furman is one of the oldest, and more selective private institutions in South Carolina...
in 1983 and a Master of Business AdministrationThe Master of Business Administration is a :master's degree in business administration, which attracts people from a wide range of academic disciplines. The MBA designation originated in the United States, emerging from the late 19th century as the country industrialized and companies sought out...
degree from Darden Graduate School of Business AdministrationThe University of Virginia Darden School of Business is the graduate business school associated with the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. The Darden School is one of the world's leading business schools, offering MBA, Ph.D. and Executive Education programs...
at the University of VirginiaThe University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
in 1988.
After graduating from Furman University his first job was as an associate for Coldwell BankerColdwell Banker is a large real estate franchise founded in 1906 in San Francisco.Coldwell Banker has an international presence, with offices on six continents, 46 countries and territories...
in 1983. He then worked as a project supervisor for Beachside Real Estate at the Isle of PalmsIsle of Palms is a city in Charleston County, South Carolina, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population on the island was 4,133. Isle of Palms is a barrier island on the South Carolina coast. As defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, and used by the U.S...
, with Pat McKinney and Frank Brumley between 1984–1986. In 1987 while working towards his MBA he was trained at Goldman SachsThe Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is an American multinational bulge bracket investment banking and securities firm that engages in global investment banking, securities, investment management, and other financial services primarily with institutional clients...
. After graduating with his MBA he took a position as a financial analyst with Chemical Realty Corporation (1988–1990). At the end of 1990 he moved back to Charleston, South CarolinaCharleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
and worked as a real estate broker on Daniel IslandDaniel Island is a island located in the City of Charleston, South Carolina . It is located in Berkely County and situated between the Cooper and Wando Rivers...
for Brumley Company (1990–1991).
Sanford founded Norton and Sanford Real Estate Investment, a leasing and brokerage company, in 1992. He still owns the company. In the early 1990s he moved to Sullivan's IslandSullivan's Island is a town in Charleston County, South Carolina, United States, on a similarly named island at the entrance to Charleston Harbor. The population was 1,911 at the 2000 census. It is also the site of a major battle of the American Revolution at Fort Sullivan on June 28, 1776. As...
, a wealthy island suburb off Charleston, with his then-wife JennyJennifer Sullivan Sanford is the former First Lady of South Carolina, heiress, and former investment banker.She was married to Governor Mark Sanford, whose initial campaigns she substantially funded...
, and their four boys, Marshall, Landon, Bolton, and Blake.
Congress
In 1994, Sanford entered the Republican primary for the Charleston-based 1st Congressional DistrictThe 1st Congressional District of South Carolina is a coastal congressional district in South Carolina. It stretches from Seabrook Island in the south to the North Carolina border and includes parts of Charleston, Dorchester, Berkeley and Georgetown counties and all of Horry county...
in the United States House of RepresentativesThe United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
. The seat had come open after Republican four-term incumbent Arthur Ravenel gave it up to make an unsuccessful run for governor. Despite having never run for office before, Sanford finished second in a crowded primary behind Van Hipp, Jr, a former George H. W. Bush administration official. Sanford defeated Hipp in the runoff, and easily won the November general election. He was reelected twice, both times facing only minor-party opposition.
While in Congress, Sanford was considered to be a staunch conservative (he garnered a lifetime rating of 92 from the American Conservative UnionThe American Conservative Union is an American political organization advocating conservative policies, and is the oldest such conservative lobbying organization in the country.-Organization:...
, opposing gayGay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
civil unionA civil union, also referred to as a civil partnership, is a legally recognized form of partnership similar to marriage. Beginning with Denmark in 1989, civil unions under one name or another have been established by law in many developed countries in order to provide same-sex couples rights,...
s and abortion for example), but displayed an occasional independent streak. He was known for voting against bills that otherwise got unanimous support. For example, he voted against a bill that preserved sites linked to the Underground RailroadThe Underground Railroad was an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century black slaves in the United States to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause. The term is also applied to the abolitionists,...
. He voted for the Clinton impeachmentBill Clinton, President of the United States, was impeached by the House of Representatives on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice on December 19, 1998, but acquitted by the Senate on February 12, 1999. Two other impeachment articles, a second perjury charge and a charge of abuse of...
following the Lewinsky scandalThe Lewinsky scandal was a political sex scandal emerging in 1998 from a sexual relationship between United States President Bill Clinton and a 25-year-old White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. The news of this extra-marital affair and the resulting investigation eventually led to the impeachment of...
, declaring Clinton's behavior to be "reprehensible." Claiming that he saw himself as a "citizen-legislator," he did not run for reelection in 2000, in keeping with a promise to serve only three terms in the House.
Sanford was listed on the House roll as "R-Charleston," even though he lived on Sullivan's Island.
First term
He entered the gubernatorial election of 2002The 2002 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 5, 2002 to select the governor of the state of South Carolina. Mark Sanford, the Republican nominee, beat incumbent Democratic Governor Jim Hodges to become the 115th governor of South Carolina...
; he first defeated Lt. Gov. Bob PeelerBob Peeler served as Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina from January 1995 to January 2003. He was defeated in the Republican gubernatorial primary by former Congressman Mark Sanford. He currently serves on the Clemson University Board of Trustees. Peeler, a 1991 graduate of the school, was...
in the Republican primary and then defeated the Democratic incumbent, Jim HodgesJames Hovis "Jim" Hodges is a Democrat who served one term as the 114th Governor of South Carolina from 1999 until 2003.-Early career:...
, in the general election, by a margin of 53% to 47% to become the 115th Governor of South Carolina. In accordance with South Carolina law, Sanford was elected separately from the state's Republican lieutenant governor, Andre BauerRudolph Andreas "André" Bauer was the 87th Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina from 2003 to 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party...
. Sanford and Bauer's wins gave the Republicans full control of state government for the first time since Reconstruction.
In 2003, just after becoming governor, Sanford joined the Air Force Reserve and attended two week’s training in AlabamaAlabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
with his unit, the 315th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron. While in training, Sanford did not transfer power to Bauer, saying he would be in regular contact with his office, and would transfer authority in writing only if he were called to active duty.
Sanford sometimes had a contentious relationship with the South Carolina General AssemblyThe South Carolina General Assembly, also called the South Carolina Legislature, is the state legislature of the U.S. state of South Carolina. The legislature is bicameral and consists of the lower South Carolina House of Representatives and the upper South Carolina Senate. Altogether, the General...
, even though it was dominated by his party for his entire tenure. The Republican-led state House of RepresentativesThe South Carolina House of Representatives is the lower house of the South Carolina General Assembly, the upper house being the South Carolina Senate. It consists of 124 Representatives elected to two year terms at the same time as US Congressional elections...
overrode 105 of Sanford's 106 budget vetoes on May 26, 2004. The following day, Sanford brought live pigA pig is any of the animals in the genus Sus, within the Suidae family of even-toed ungulates. Pigs include the domestic pig, its ancestor the wild boar, and several other wild relatives...
s into the House chamber as a visual protest against "pork projectsPork barrel is a derogatory term referring to appropriation of government spending for localized projects secured solely or primarily to bring money to a representative's district...
."
Sanford rejected the Assembly's entire budget on June 13, 2006. Had this veto stood, the state government would have shut down on July 1. The governor explained his veto as being the only way to get the cuts he desired, and that using the line item veto would have been inadequate as well as impossible. However, in a special session the following day, both houses dismissed Sanford's call for reform by overriding his veto–-effectively restoring their original budget (which indeed contained many reforms Sanford had previously called for).{{Citation needed|date=May 2009}}
Sanford professed to be a firm supporter of limited government, and many pundits described his views as being libertarianLibertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
in nature. Later in his tenure, he embarked on a plan to reform methods of funding the state's public education system, including measures such as school vouchers– aimed at introducing more competition into the school system as a means of fostering improvement. The plan, known as "Put Parents In Charge," proposed to provide around $2,500 per child to parents who chose to withdraw their children from the state's public school system and instead send them to independent schools. Sanford framed this plan as a necessary market-based reform.
Sanford also sought to reform the state's public college system. Sanford has criticized these schools as focusing too much on separately creating research institutions and not on educating the young adults of South Carolina. Sanford also suggested that they combine some programs as a means of curbing tuition increases. The schools did not respond positively to this suggestion, however, causing Sanford to remark that "if any institution ultimately feels uncomfortable with our push toward coordination, they can exit the system and go private."
Sanford also indicated a desire to increase the powers of the governor. Under the South Carolina ConstitutionThe Constitution of the State of South Carolina is the governing document of the U.S. state of South Carolina. It describes the structure and function of the state's government. The current constitution took effect on December 4, 1895...
, the governor is somewhat weaker than many of his counterparts. For instance, many of his appointment powers are shared with the South Carolina General Assembly.
Sanford's first term included other controversies. He was criticized for missing a budget debate and was harshly criticized in a July 2003 article in The Greenville NewsThe Greenville News is a daily morning newspaper published in Greenville, South Carolina. Along with The State in Columbia and Charleston's Post and Courier, it is one of the three largest papers in South Carolina.-History:...
for delays in signing a piece of domestic violence legislation. A Time Magazine article in November 2005, critical of Sanford, said that some "fear his thrift has brought the state's economy to a standstill."
According to Survey USA, Sanford's approval ratings ranged from 47% to 55% during 2006. According to Survey USA, in Mark Sanford's state of S.C., Sanford's approval ratings after his admission of infidelity (6-24-09) showed that "60% think the Governor should resign. 34% feel he should remain in office."
Campaign
His campaign for reelection in 2006The 2006 South Carolina gubernatorial election took place on November 7, 2006. Incumbent Republican Governor Mark Sanford was running for re-election against Democratic State Senator Tommy Moore and became only the third Republican governor in South Carolina to win a second term...
began by Sanford winning the June 13th Republican Primary over Oscar LovelaceOscar Fred Lovelace is a physician in Prosperity, South Carolina. He was a candidate for the Republican nomination for governor of South Carolina. In the primary, scheduled for June 13, 2006, he sought to unseat the incumbent Republican governor, Mark Sanford...
, a family physician from Prosperity, with 65% of the vote to Lovelace's 35%. His Democratic competitor in the November elections was state senatorThe South Carolina Senate is the upper house of the South Carolina General Assembly, the lower house being the South Carolina House of Representatives...
Tommy MooreTommy L. Moore is a South Carolina businessman and former state politician who is now an executive of a payday lending association in Washington, D.C...
, whom Sanford beat by 55%-45%.
On election day, Sanford was not allowed to vote in his home precinct because he did not have his voter registration card. The governor was obliged to go to a voter registration office to get a new registration card. "I hope everybody else out there is as determined to vote as I was today," he said. Sanford's driver's license had a ColumbiaColumbia is the state capital and largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The population was 129,272 according to the 2010 census. Columbia is the county seat of Richland County, but a portion of the city extends into neighboring Lexington County. The city is the center of a metropolitan...
address, but Sanford was trying to vote at his home precinct in Sullivan's Island. According to WAGTWAGT is the NBC-affiliated television station for the Central Savannah River Area of East-Central Georgia and West-Central South Carolina. Licensed to Augusta, Georgia, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 30 from a transmitter in the Spiderweb section of Beech Island,...
in Augusta, GeorgiaAugusta is a consolidated city in the U.S. state of Georgia, located along the Savannah River. As of the 2010 census, the Augusta–Richmond County population was 195,844 not counting the unconsolidated cities of Hephzibah and Blythe.Augusta is the principal city of the Augusta-Richmond County...
(whose service area includes part of South Carolina) Sanford declared that it would be his last campaign.
Political actions
In dissent with the Republican Party of South Carolina, Sanford, an EpiscopalianThe Episcopal Church is a mainline Anglican Christian church found mainly in the United States , but also in Honduras, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands and parts of Europe...
, opposed the faith-based license plates his state offers, marketed largely to the state's conservative evangelical citizens. After allowing the law to pass without his signature, he wrote "It is my personal view that the largest proclamation of one's faith ought to be in how one lives his life."
After the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, abbreviated ARRA and commonly referred to as the Stimulus or The Recovery Act, is an economic stimulus package enacted by the 111th United States Congress in February 2009 and signed into law on February 17, 2009, by President Barack Obama.To...
, which Governor Sanford strongly opposed and publicly criticized before and after its passage by CongressThe United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
and presidential signing, Sanford initially indicated he might not accept all of the funds allotted by the spending law to South Carolina. He was criticized by many Democrats and some moderate Republicans both in his state and outside who noted South Carolina's 9.5% unemployment rate (one of the highest in the country) and complained that Sanford wasn't doing enough to improve economic conditions in his state, which could be alleviated by the stimulus money. Arnold SchwarzeneggerArnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
, the Republican governorThe Governor of California is the chief executive of the California state government, whose responsibilities include making annual State of the State addresses to the California State Legislature, submitting the budget, and ensuring that state laws are enforced...
of CaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, suggested that if Sanford or other governors rejected their portion of stimulus funds, he would be happy to take them instead.
On March 11, 2009, Sanford became the first United States governor to formally reject a portion of the federal stimulus money earmarked by Congress for the state of South Carolina. Sanford compromised to accept the federal money on condition that the state legislature provide matching funds to pay down the South Carolina state debt. On April 3, 2009, Sanford signed paperwork enabling South Carolina to receive the bailout money.{{Citation needed|date=May 2010}}
Rankings
In its April 2010 report, ethics watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in WashingtonCitizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington is a nonprofit 501 organization that describes itself as "dedicated to promoting ethics and accountability in government and public life by targeting government officials – regardless of party affiliation – who sacrifice the common good to...
named Sanford one of 11 "worst governors" in the United States because of various ethics issues throughout Sanford's term as governor and his time in Congress. Some of Sanford's ethics lapses cited by the watchdog include:
- Abused his office for his personal benefit and the benefit of his friends
- Violated campaign finance laws by failing to report in-kind contributions and improperly converting campaign funds for personal use
- Subordinated his responsibilities to his pursuit of an extramarital affair
- Endangered his state’s economy by threatening to refuse stimulus funds
The libertarianLibertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
Cato InstituteThe Cato Institute is a libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1977 by Edward H. Crane, who remains president and CEO, and Charles Koch, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the conglomerate Koch Industries, Inc., the largest privately held...
ranked Mark Sanford as the best governor in America in their 2010 fiscal policy report card, describing him as "a staunch supporter of spending restraint and pro-growth tax reforms".
Disappearance and extramarital affair
{{Main|Mark Sanford disappearance and extramarital affair}}
From June 18 until June 24, 2009, the whereabouts of Governor Sanford were unknown to the public, as well as to his wife and the State Law Enforcement Division, which provides security for him, garnering nationwide news coverage. Lieutenant GovernorIn the United States, 43 of the 50 states have a separate, full-time office of lieutenant governor. In most cases, the lieutenant governor is the highest officer of state after the governor, standing in for that officer when he or she is absent from the state or temporarily incapacitated...
André BauerRudolph Andreas "André" Bauer was the 87th Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina from 2003 to 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party...
announced that he could not "take lightly that his staff has not had communication with him for more than four days, and that no one, including his own family, knows his whereabouts."
Before his disappearance, Governor Sanford told his staff that he would be hiking on the Appalachian TrailThe Appalachian National Scenic Trail, generally known as the Appalachian Trail or simply the AT, is a marked hiking trail in the eastern United States extending between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine. It is approximately long...
and while he was gone he did not answer 15 cell phone calls from his chief of staff Scott English; he also failed to call his family on Father's Day.
Several hours after a reporter intercepted Governor Sanford arriving at Atlanta's airport after flying back from ArgentinaArgentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, and upon learning that incriminating evidence was being swiftly mobilized against him by the media, Sanford held a news conference, during which he admitted that he had been unfaithful to his wife.
In emotional interviews with the Associated PressThe Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
over two days, Mark Sanford said he would die "knowing that I had met my soul mate." Sanford also said that he "crossed the lines" with a handful of other women during 20 years of marriage, but not as far as he did with his mistress.
"There were a handful of instances wherein I crossed the lines I shouldn't have crossed as a married man, but never crossed the ultimate line," he said.
On June 25, La NaciónLa Nación is an Argentine daily newspaper. The country's leading conservative paper, the centrist Clarín is its main competitor. It is the only newspaper in Argentina still published in broadsheet format.-Overview:...
, a Buenos AiresBuenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
newspaper, identified the Argentine woman as María Belén Chapur, a 43-year-old divorced mother of two with a university degree in international relationsInternational relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...
who lives in the city of Buenos AiresBuenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
and works as a commodity broker . The State earlier had published details of e-mails between Sanford and a woman only identified as "Maria." Sanford met Chapur at a dance in UruguayUruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
in 2001 and admitted there was a more intimate relationship with her starting in 2008.
Sanford's wife had become aware of her husband's infidelities around five months before the scandal broke, and the two had sought marriage counseling. She said that she had requested a trial separationA trial separation is an informal splitting of a couple. Unlike legal separation, this is purely a personal arrangement and does not require legal proceedings...
about two weeks before his disappearance.
Governor Sanford told reporters that months before his affair became public he had sought counsel at a controversial religious organization called The FamilyThe Fellowship, also known as the Family, is a U.S.-based religious and political organization founded in 1935 by Abraham Vereide. The stated purpose of the Fellowship is to provide a fellowship forum for decision makers to share in Bible studies, prayer meetings, worship experiences and to...
, of which he became a member when he was a Representative in Washington, D.C. from 1995 to 2001.
Fallout from scandal
His wife, Jenny SanfordJennifer Sullivan Sanford is the former First Lady of South Carolina, heiress, and former investment banker.She was married to Governor Mark Sanford, whose initial campaigns she substantially funded...
, after telling VogueVogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine that is published monthly in 18 national and one regional edition by Condé Nast.-History:In 1892 Arthur Turnure founded Vogue as a weekly publication in the United States. When he died in 1909, Condé Montrose Nast picked up the magazine and slowly began...
magazine that her husband was having a “midlife crisis”, moved out of the South Carolina Governor's MansionThe South Carolina Governor's Mansion is a historic U.S. governor's mansion in the Arsenal Hill neighborhood of Columbia, South Carolina and the official residence of the Governor of South Carolina. It is a Federal style home influenced by British Colonial plantations...
, with the couple’s four sons, returning to the family home on Sullivan's Island.
On December 11, 2009, Jenny SanfordJennifer Sullivan Sanford is the former First Lady of South Carolina, heiress, and former investment banker.She was married to Governor Mark Sanford, whose initial campaigns she substantially funded...
announced that she was filing for divorce, calling it a "sad and painful process." On February 26, 2010, a Charleston County, South CarolinaCharleston County is a county located in the U.S. state of South Carolina. According to a 2005 U.S. Census Bureau estimate, its population was 330,368. Its county seat is Charleston. It is the third-most populous county in the state . Charleston County was created in 1901 by an act of the South...
Family Court Judge approved her request.
Resignation as Chairman of the Republican Governors Association
Sanford resigned as Chairman of the Republican Governors AssociationThe Republican Governors Association is a Washington, D.C.-based 527 organization founded in 1963, consisting of U.S. state and territorial governors affiliated with the Republican Party.Its Democratic Party counterpart is the Democratic Governors Association...
, and he was swiftly succeeded by MississippiMississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
Governor Haley BarbourHaley Reeves Barbour is an American Republican politician currently serving as the 63rd Governor of Mississippi. He gained a national spotlight in August 2005 after Mississippi was hit by Hurricane Katrina. Barbour won re-election as Governor in 2007...
. In a June 29 email to members of his political action committee, Sanford said he had no intention of resigning as Governor.
Reimbursement for his private use of public funds
After his affair was revealed in June 2009, Sanford first claimed, "There's been a lot of speculation and innuendo on whether or not public moneys were used to advance my admitted unfaithfulness. To be very clear: no public money was ever used in connection with this." After a reporter used the Freedom of Information Act to seek records of what public funds were used to pay for Sanford's trip to Argentina, Sanford eventually chose to reimburse taxpayers for expenses he had incurred one year earlier with his mistress in Argentina. He said, "I made a mistake while I was there in meeting with the woman who I was unfaithful to my wife with. That has raised some very legitimate concerns and questions, and as such I am going to reimburse the state for the full cost of the Argentina leg of this trip.” On August 9, 2009, the AP reported that Sanford may have violated state law by other abusive use of state planes, including to fly to get a haircut.
Impeachment proceedings
On August 25, state representatives Nathan BallentineNathan Ballentine is a Republican member of the South Carolina House of Representatives, representing the House District 71 since 2005.Nathan was born in Richland County and, for almost two decades, has chosen to work, live, and raise his family in the community named after his ancestors...
and Gary Simrill met with Sanford and warned him that the state legislature would impeach him if he did not resign. Ballentine, an ally of Sanford's, said afterward, "I told him the writing is on the wall. ...he could put an end to it all, but if he doesn't, members of the House will take things into their hands." Sanford still declined to resign.
On August 28, The Washington TimesThe Washington Times is a daily broadsheet newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. It was founded in 1982 by Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon, and until 2010 was owned by News World Communications, an international media conglomerate associated with the...
reported that Republican lawmakers in South Carolina were "laying plans" for a special legislative session on whether to impeach Sanford. Two bills of impeachment were being prepared, with bipartisan support in the state legislature.
On October 23, 2009, two impeachment resolutions were introduced, but were blocked by Democrats in the South Carolina legislature. A month later, the resolution was successfully introduced and it was announced that an ad hoc committee would begin drafting articles of impeachment starting on November 24. Meanwhile, the Ethics Commission formally charged the Governor with 37 violations. making his removal or resignation all that more likely.
On December 3, during its third public hearing on the matter, the ad hoc committee unanimously voted to remove the vast majority of charges from the investigation, stating that they didn't warrant "overturning an election." On December 9, the committee voted 6-1 against impeachment, stating that the legislature had better things to do. However, the committee voted unanimously to censure the governor. On the 16th the full House Judiciary Committee voted 15-6 to formally end the process.
Censure
On December 15, 2009, the House Judiciary Committee voted unanimously to censure Governor Sanford. The full South Carolina House of RepresentativesThe South Carolina House of Representatives is the lower house of the South Carolina General Assembly, the upper house being the South Carolina Senate. It consists of 124 Representatives elected to two year terms at the same time as US Congressional elections...
voted 102-11 on the resolution in January 2010.
Role in 2008 presidential election
In 2006, before the midterm elections, some commentators discussed the possibility of Sanford running for president.{{Citation needed|date=June 2009}} He said that he would not run, and claimed that his re-election bid would be his last election, win or lose. After Super TuesdaySuper Tuesday 2008, Super Duper Tuesday, Mega Tuesday, Giga Tuesday, Tsunami Tuesday, and The Tuesday of Destiny are names for February 5, 2008, the day on which the largest simultaneous number of state U.S. presidential primary elections in the history of U.S. primaries were held...
in 2008, Governor Sanford received some mention as a potential running mate for the presumptive RepublicanThe Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
presidential candidate, John McCainJohn Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
.
Sanford publicly aligned himself with McCain in a March 15, 2008, piece in the Wall Street Journal. Likening the presidential race to a footballAmerican football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
game at halftime, Sanford noted that he "sat out the first half, not endorsing a candidate...But I'm now stepping onto the field and going to work to help John McCain. It's important that conservatives do the same."
On January 11, 2008, shortly before the South Carolina presidential primaries (R Jan 19, D Jan 26), Governor Sanford published a guest column in the ColumbiaColumbia is the state capital and largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The population was 129,272 according to the 2010 census. Columbia is the county seat of Richland County, but a portion of the city extends into neighboring Lexington County. The city is the center of a metropolitan...
newspaper The State. In the article, "Obama's Symbolism Here", Sanford wrote, "I won't be voting for Barack Obama for president," but noted the "historical burden" borne by South Carolinians on the topic of race. He advised voters in South Carolina to take note of the symbolism of Obama's early success, with the knowledge that South Carolina was a segregated state less than fifty years earlier, and discouraged voting either for or against Obama on the basis of his race.
In a January 18, 2008 interview with CNNCable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
's Wolf BlitzerWolf Isaac Blitzer is an American journalist who has been a CNN reporter since 1990. Blitzer is currently the host of the newscast The Situation Room and was the host of the Sunday talk show Late Edition until it was discontinued on January 11, 2009...
, Sanford discussed his Obama article. Wolf Blitzer asked, "Give us your mind-set. Why did you think it was so important to write this piece right now at this critical moment?" Governor Sanford responded, "Well, it plays into a larger conversation that we're having as a family of South Carolinians on, in fact, the [constitutional] structure of our government." Also, Wolf Blitzer showed Sanford clips of recent comments made by John McCain and Mike HuckabeeMichael "Mike" Dale Huckabee is an American politician who served as the 44th Governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007. He was a candidate in the 2008 United States Republican presidential primaries, finishing second in delegate count and third in both popular vote and number of states won . He won...
about the Confederate battle flag and asked the Governor, "All right, two different positions, obviously. Who's right in this?" Sanford responded, "Well, it depends who you talk to." Sanford elaborated that "if you were to talk to the vast majority of South Carolinians, they would say that we do not need to be debating where the Confederate flag is or is not."
Sanford attracted derision in the liberalLiberalism in the United States is a broad political philosophy centered on the unalienable rights of the individual. The fundamental liberal ideals of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion for all belief systems, and the separation of church and state, right to due process...
blogosphereThe blogosphere is made up of all blogs and their interconnections. The term implies that blogs exist together as a connected community or as a social network in which everyday authors can publish their opinions...
and among pundits and analysts on the left for a gaffe during an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer on July 13, 2008, when he had difficulty answering a question about differences between Senator McCain and incumbent President George W. BushGeorge Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
on economic policy. "I'm drawing a blank, and I hate when I do that, especially on television," joked Sanford.
Possible 2012 candidacy
As early as January 2008, there had been anticipation that Mark Sanford would run for President in 2012The United States presidential election of 2012 is the next United States presidential election, to be held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012. It will be the 57th quadrennial presidential election in which presidential electors, who will actually elect the President and the Vice President of the United...
, and online support groups have sprung up on virtual social networks like FacebookFacebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
in support of a Sanford ticket.
Further boosting Sanford's profile in advance of a potential candidacy, which the governor has neither ruled out nor expressly hinted at, he was elected as Chairman of the Republican Governors AssociationThe Republican Governors Association is a Washington, D.C.-based 527 organization founded in 1963, consisting of U.S. state and territorial governors affiliated with the Republican Party.Its Democratic Party counterpart is the Democratic Governors Association...
in November 2008 and was cited by Michael S. SteeleMichael Stephen Steele is an American politician who served as the first African-American chairman of the Republican National Committee from January 2009 until January 2011. From 2003 to 2007, he was the seventh Lieutenant Governor of Maryland, the first African American elected to statewide...
, the Chairman of the Republican PartyThe Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
as one of four "rising stars" in the GOP (alongside Governors Bobby JindalPiyush "Bobby" Jindal is the 55th and current Governor of Louisiana and formerly a member of the United States House of Representatives. He is a member of the Republican Party....
of LouisianaLouisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, Tim PawlentyTimothy James "Tim" Pawlenty , also known affectionately among supporters as T-Paw, is an American politician who served as the 39th Governor of Minnesota . He was a Republican candidate for President of the United States in the 2012 election from May to August 2011...
of MinnesotaMinnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
and Sarah PalinSarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice-presidency.She was...
of AlaskaAlaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
) in February 2009. Sanford also received early support for a presidential run from the Republican Liberty CaucusThe Republican Liberty Caucus is a political action organization dedicated to promoting the ideals of individual liberty, limited government and free market economics within the Republican Party in the United States. It is part of the libertarian wing of the Republican Party...
.
On February 22, 2009, Governor Sanford declined to rule out a possible presidential bid in 2012, though he professed to have no current plans to run for national office.
Washington Post blogger Chris Cillizza says that revelations of an extramarital affair in June 2009 ended Sanford's chances of being a serious candidate in 2012.
On January 4, 2010, Governor Sanford admitted that, "If there's anything that's abundantly clear, it's that I ain't running for president." In the same Republican meeting, he also indicated that he would enter the private sector after his last 11 months as Governor.
Post-Political Career
Following completion of his service as Governor of South Carolina in January, 2011, Sanford moved to his family farm in Beaufort County, South Carolina-National protected areas:*Ernest F. Hollings ACE Basin National Wildlife Refuge *Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 155,215 people, 45,532 households, and 33,056 families residing in the county. The population density was 206 people per...
. In October, 2011, he was hired as a paid political contributor for Fox News ChannelFox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...
.
Books
In 2000 Sanford's first book, The Trust Committed To Me, was published. It discussed term limitA term limit is a legal restriction that limits the number of terms a person may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method to curb the potential for monopoly, where a leader effectively becomes "president for...
s, and featured a foreword by Robert NovakRobert David Sanders "Bob" Novak was an American syndicated columnist, journalist, television personality, author, and conservative political commentator. After working for two newspapers before serving for the U.S. Army in the Korean War, he became a reporter for the Associated Press and then for...
. A second book, titled Within Our Means, was scheduled to be published by SentinelSentinel was established in 2003 as a dedicated conservative imprint within Penguin Group . It publishes a wide variety of right-of-center books on subjects like politics, history, public policy, culture, religion and international relations...
in 2010: however the contract was terminated by mutual agreement after the revelation of Sanford's extramarital affair.
Electoral history
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{{for|the basketball player|Mark Sanford (basketball)}}
Marshall Clement "Mark" Sanford Jr. (born May 28, 1960) is an AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
politician from South CarolinaSouth Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
, who was the 115th Governor of South CarolinaThe Governor of the State of South Carolina is the head of state for the State of South Carolina. Under the South Carolina Constitution, the Governor is also the head of government, serving as the chief executive of the South Carolina executive branch. The Governor is the ex officio...
from 2003 to 2011.
A member of the Republican PartyThe Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
, he served from 1995 to 2001 as Congressman in the United States House of RepresentativesThe United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
for South Carolina's 1st congressional districtThe 1st Congressional District of South Carolina is a coastal congressional district in South Carolina. It stretches from Seabrook Island in the south to the North Carolina border and includes parts of Charleston, Dorchester, Berkeley and Georgetown counties and all of Horry county...
, where he held conservative positions.
In 2002, he was elected the 115th Governor of South Carolina, defeating Democratic incumbent Jim HodgesJames Hovis "Jim" Hodges is a Democrat who served one term as the 114th Governor of South Carolina from 1999 until 2003.-Early career:...
, and was reelected in 2006. Upon his election he was the first Governor of South Carolina with a master's degree or MBA. As governor, he had a contentious relationship with the South Carolina legislatureThe South Carolina General Assembly, also called the South Carolina Legislature, is the state legislature of the U.S. state of South Carolina. The legislature is bicameral and consists of the lower South Carolina House of Representatives and the upper South Carolina Senate. Altogether, the General...
: notably, he made public statements that he would reject stimulusIn economics, stimulus refers to attempts to use monetary or fiscal policy to stimulate the economy. Recently "stimulus" has become particularly associated with Keynesian economics and the theory that government spending projects can generate economic growth in a recession...
funds for his state from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, abbreviated ARRA and commonly referred to as the Stimulus or The Recovery Act, is an economic stimulus package enacted by the 111th United States Congress in February 2009 and signed into law on February 17, 2009, by President Barack Obama.To...
. Following a subsequent battle in the South Carolina Supreme CourtThe South Carolina Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The court is composed of a Chief Justice and four Associate Justices.-Selection of Justices:...
, he was forced to accept the funds.
On June 24, 2009, Sanford resigned as chairman of the Republican Governors AssociationThe Republican Governors Association is a Washington, D.C.-based 527 organization founded in 1963, consisting of U.S. state and territorial governors affiliated with the Republican Party.Its Democratic Party counterpart is the Democratic Governors Association...
, after he publicly revealed that he had engaged in an affair with María Belén ChapurFor six days in June 2009, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford's whereabouts were unknown and there was media coverage of what was described as his disappearance. Subsequently the Governor reappeared and reported that he had been in Argentina with a woman with whom he was having an extramarital...
, an Argentine woman. He was later censureA censure is an expression of strong disapproval or harsh criticism. Among the forms that it can take are a stern rebuke by a legislature, a spiritual penalty imposed by a church, and a negative judgment pronounced on a theological proposition.-Politics:...
d over the affair because of misuse of state travel funds.
Sanford is also a real estate developer and a medical administration officer in the U.S. Air Force ReserveThe Air Force Reserve Command is a major command of the U.S. Air Force with its headquarters at Robins AFB, Georgia.It stood up as a major command of the Air Force on 17 February 1997....
.
Early life
Marshall Clement Sanford, Jr. was born on May 28, 1960, in Fort Lauderdale, FloridaFort Lauderdale is a city in the U.S. state of Florida, on the Atlantic coast. It is the county seat of Broward County. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 165,521. It is a principal city of the South Florida metropolitan area, which was home to 5,564,635 people at the 2010...
, son of Marshall Clement Sanford, Sr., a cardiologist, and his wife, the former Peggy Pitts. Before his senior year of high school, Sanford moved with his family from Fort Lauderdale to the 3,000 acre (1,214 hectare) Coosaw Plantation near Beaufort, South CarolinaBeaufort is a city in and the county seat of Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1711, it is the second-oldest city in South Carolina, behind Charleston. The city's population was 12,361 in the 2010 census. It is located in the Hilton Head Island-Beaufort Micropolitan...
. Sanford attained the rank of Eagle ScoutEagle Scout is the highest rank attainable in the Boy Scouting program of the Boy Scouts of America . A Scout who attains this rank is called an Eagle Scout or Eagle. Since its introduction in 1911, the Eagle Scout rank has been earned by more than 2 million young men...
in the Boy Scouts of AmericaThe Boy Scouts of America is one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with over 4.5 million youth members in its age-related divisions...
. He was a member of Troop 509 of the South Florida Council of the BSA chartered by St Martins in the Fields Church of Pompano Beach, FloridaPompano Beach ) is a city in Broward County, Florida, along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean just to the north of Fort Lauderdale. The nearby Hillsboro Inlet forms part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 99,845...
. Prior to moving to South Carolina he lived in an ocean front home on the barrier island of Lighthouse Point, FloridaLighthouse Point is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. The city was named for the Hillsboro Inlet Lighthouse, which is located in nearby Hillsboro Beach. As of the 2010 census, the population of Lighthouse Point was 10,344...
. He also spent time at his parents 40 acres (161,874.4 m²) cattle ranch in Delray Beach, FloridaDelray Beach is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, USA. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 60,020. As of 2004, the population estimated by the U.S...
. He has a younger brother, William, a.k.a. "Billy".
He received a Bachelor of ArtsA Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree in businessA business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
from Furman UniversityFurman University is a selective, private, coeducational, liberal arts college in Greenville, South Carolina, United States. Furman is one of the oldest, and more selective private institutions in South Carolina...
in 1983 and a Master of Business AdministrationThe Master of Business Administration is a :master's degree in business administration, which attracts people from a wide range of academic disciplines. The MBA designation originated in the United States, emerging from the late 19th century as the country industrialized and companies sought out...
degree from Darden Graduate School of Business AdministrationThe University of Virginia Darden School of Business is the graduate business school associated with the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. The Darden School is one of the world's leading business schools, offering MBA, Ph.D. and Executive Education programs...
at the University of VirginiaThe University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
in 1988.
After graduating from Furman University his first job was as an associate for Coldwell BankerColdwell Banker is a large real estate franchise founded in 1906 in San Francisco.Coldwell Banker has an international presence, with offices on six continents, 46 countries and territories...
in 1983. He then worked as a project supervisor for Beachside Real Estate at the Isle of PalmsIsle of Palms is a city in Charleston County, South Carolina, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population on the island was 4,133. Isle of Palms is a barrier island on the South Carolina coast. As defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, and used by the U.S...
, with Pat McKinney and Frank Brumley between 1984–1986. In 1987 while working towards his MBA he was trained at Goldman SachsThe Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is an American multinational bulge bracket investment banking and securities firm that engages in global investment banking, securities, investment management, and other financial services primarily with institutional clients...
. After graduating with his MBA he took a position as a financial analyst with Chemical Realty Corporation (1988–1990). At the end of 1990 he moved back to Charleston, South CarolinaCharleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
and worked as a real estate broker on Daniel IslandDaniel Island is a island located in the City of Charleston, South Carolina . It is located in Berkely County and situated between the Cooper and Wando Rivers...
for Brumley Company (1990–1991).
Sanford founded Norton and Sanford Real Estate Investment, a leasing and brokerage company, in 1992. He still owns the company. In the early 1990s he moved to Sullivan's IslandSullivan's Island is a town in Charleston County, South Carolina, United States, on a similarly named island at the entrance to Charleston Harbor. The population was 1,911 at the 2000 census. It is also the site of a major battle of the American Revolution at Fort Sullivan on June 28, 1776. As...
, a wealthy island suburb off Charleston, with his then-wife JennyJennifer Sullivan Sanford is the former First Lady of South Carolina, heiress, and former investment banker.She was married to Governor Mark Sanford, whose initial campaigns she substantially funded...
, and their four boys, Marshall, Landon, Bolton, and Blake.
Congress
In 1994, Sanford entered the Republican primary for the Charleston-based 1st Congressional DistrictThe 1st Congressional District of South Carolina is a coastal congressional district in South Carolina. It stretches from Seabrook Island in the south to the North Carolina border and includes parts of Charleston, Dorchester, Berkeley and Georgetown counties and all of Horry county...
in the United States House of RepresentativesThe United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
. The seat had come open after Republican four-term incumbent Arthur Ravenel gave it up to make an unsuccessful run for governor. Despite having never run for office before, Sanford finished second in a crowded primary behind Van Hipp, Jr, a former George H. W. Bush administration official. Sanford defeated Hipp in the runoff, and easily won the November general election. He was reelected twice, both times facing only minor-party opposition.
While in Congress, Sanford was considered to be a staunch conservative (he garnered a lifetime rating of 92 from the American Conservative UnionThe American Conservative Union is an American political organization advocating conservative policies, and is the oldest such conservative lobbying organization in the country.-Organization:...
, opposing gayGay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
civil unionA civil union, also referred to as a civil partnership, is a legally recognized form of partnership similar to marriage. Beginning with Denmark in 1989, civil unions under one name or another have been established by law in many developed countries in order to provide same-sex couples rights,...
s and abortion for example), but displayed an occasional independent streak. He was known for voting against bills that otherwise got unanimous support. For example, he voted against a bill that preserved sites linked to the Underground RailroadThe Underground Railroad was an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century black slaves in the United States to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause. The term is also applied to the abolitionists,...
. He voted for the Clinton impeachmentBill Clinton, President of the United States, was impeached by the House of Representatives on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice on December 19, 1998, but acquitted by the Senate on February 12, 1999. Two other impeachment articles, a second perjury charge and a charge of abuse of...
following the Lewinsky scandalThe Lewinsky scandal was a political sex scandal emerging in 1998 from a sexual relationship between United States President Bill Clinton and a 25-year-old White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. The news of this extra-marital affair and the resulting investigation eventually led to the impeachment of...
, declaring Clinton's behavior to be "reprehensible." Claiming that he saw himself as a "citizen-legislator," he did not run for reelection in 2000, in keeping with a promise to serve only three terms in the House.
Sanford was listed on the House roll as "R-Charleston," even though he lived on Sullivan's Island.
First term
He entered the gubernatorial election of 2002The 2002 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 5, 2002 to select the governor of the state of South Carolina. Mark Sanford, the Republican nominee, beat incumbent Democratic Governor Jim Hodges to become the 115th governor of South Carolina...
; he first defeated Lt. Gov. Bob PeelerBob Peeler served as Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina from January 1995 to January 2003. He was defeated in the Republican gubernatorial primary by former Congressman Mark Sanford. He currently serves on the Clemson University Board of Trustees. Peeler, a 1991 graduate of the school, was...
in the Republican primary and then defeated the Democratic incumbent, Jim HodgesJames Hovis "Jim" Hodges is a Democrat who served one term as the 114th Governor of South Carolina from 1999 until 2003.-Early career:...
, in the general election, by a margin of 53% to 47% to become the 115th Governor of South Carolina. In accordance with South Carolina law, Sanford was elected separately from the state's Republican lieutenant governor, Andre BauerRudolph Andreas "André" Bauer was the 87th Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina from 2003 to 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party...
. Sanford and Bauer's wins gave the Republicans full control of state government for the first time since Reconstruction.
In 2003, just after becoming governor, Sanford joined the Air Force Reserve and attended two week’s training in AlabamaAlabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
with his unit, the 315th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron. While in training, Sanford did not transfer power to Bauer, saying he would be in regular contact with his office, and would transfer authority in writing only if he were called to active duty.
Sanford sometimes had a contentious relationship with the South Carolina General AssemblyThe South Carolina General Assembly, also called the South Carolina Legislature, is the state legislature of the U.S. state of South Carolina. The legislature is bicameral and consists of the lower South Carolina House of Representatives and the upper South Carolina Senate. Altogether, the General...
, even though it was dominated by his party for his entire tenure. The Republican-led state House of RepresentativesThe South Carolina House of Representatives is the lower house of the South Carolina General Assembly, the upper house being the South Carolina Senate. It consists of 124 Representatives elected to two year terms at the same time as US Congressional elections...
overrode 105 of Sanford's 106 budget vetoes on May 26, 2004. The following day, Sanford brought live pigA pig is any of the animals in the genus Sus, within the Suidae family of even-toed ungulates. Pigs include the domestic pig, its ancestor the wild boar, and several other wild relatives...
s into the House chamber as a visual protest against "pork projectsPork barrel is a derogatory term referring to appropriation of government spending for localized projects secured solely or primarily to bring money to a representative's district...
."
Sanford rejected the Assembly's entire budget on June 13, 2006. Had this veto stood, the state government would have shut down on July 1. The governor explained his veto as being the only way to get the cuts he desired, and that using the line item veto would have been inadequate as well as impossible. However, in a special session the following day, both houses dismissed Sanford's call for reform by overriding his veto–-effectively restoring their original budget (which indeed contained many reforms Sanford had previously called for).{{Citation needed|date=May 2009}}
Sanford professed to be a firm supporter of limited government, and many pundits described his views as being libertarianLibertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
in nature. Later in his tenure, he embarked on a plan to reform methods of funding the state's public education system, including measures such as school vouchers– aimed at introducing more competition into the school system as a means of fostering improvement. The plan, known as "Put Parents In Charge," proposed to provide around $2,500 per child to parents who chose to withdraw their children from the state's public school system and instead send them to independent schools. Sanford framed this plan as a necessary market-based reform.
Sanford also sought to reform the state's public college system. Sanford has criticized these schools as focusing too much on separately creating research institutions and not on educating the young adults of South Carolina. Sanford also suggested that they combine some programs as a means of curbing tuition increases. The schools did not respond positively to this suggestion, however, causing Sanford to remark that "if any institution ultimately feels uncomfortable with our push toward coordination, they can exit the system and go private."
Sanford also indicated a desire to increase the powers of the governor. Under the South Carolina ConstitutionThe Constitution of the State of South Carolina is the governing document of the U.S. state of South Carolina. It describes the structure and function of the state's government. The current constitution took effect on December 4, 1895...
, the governor is somewhat weaker than many of his counterparts. For instance, many of his appointment powers are shared with the South Carolina General Assembly.
Sanford's first term included other controversies. He was criticized for missing a budget debate and was harshly criticized in a July 2003 article in The Greenville NewsThe Greenville News is a daily morning newspaper published in Greenville, South Carolina. Along with The State in Columbia and Charleston's Post and Courier, it is one of the three largest papers in South Carolina.-History:...
for delays in signing a piece of domestic violence legislation. A Time Magazine article in November 2005, critical of Sanford, said that some "fear his thrift has brought the state's economy to a standstill."
According to Survey USA, Sanford's approval ratings ranged from 47% to 55% during 2006. According to Survey USA, in Mark Sanford's state of S.C., Sanford's approval ratings after his admission of infidelity (6-24-09) showed that "60% think the Governor should resign. 34% feel he should remain in office."
Campaign
His campaign for reelection in 2006The 2006 South Carolina gubernatorial election took place on November 7, 2006. Incumbent Republican Governor Mark Sanford was running for re-election against Democratic State Senator Tommy Moore and became only the third Republican governor in South Carolina to win a second term...
began by Sanford winning the June 13th Republican Primary over Oscar LovelaceOscar Fred Lovelace is a physician in Prosperity, South Carolina. He was a candidate for the Republican nomination for governor of South Carolina. In the primary, scheduled for June 13, 2006, he sought to unseat the incumbent Republican governor, Mark Sanford...
, a family physician from Prosperity, with 65% of the vote to Lovelace's 35%. His Democratic competitor in the November elections was state senatorThe South Carolina Senate is the upper house of the South Carolina General Assembly, the lower house being the South Carolina House of Representatives...
Tommy MooreTommy L. Moore is a South Carolina businessman and former state politician who is now an executive of a payday lending association in Washington, D.C...
, whom Sanford beat by 55%-45%.
On election day, Sanford was not allowed to vote in his home precinct because he did not have his voter registration card. The governor was obliged to go to a voter registration office to get a new registration card. "I hope everybody else out there is as determined to vote as I was today," he said. Sanford's driver's license had a ColumbiaColumbia is the state capital and largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The population was 129,272 according to the 2010 census. Columbia is the county seat of Richland County, but a portion of the city extends into neighboring Lexington County. The city is the center of a metropolitan...
address, but Sanford was trying to vote at his home precinct in Sullivan's Island. According to WAGTWAGT is the NBC-affiliated television station for the Central Savannah River Area of East-Central Georgia and West-Central South Carolina. Licensed to Augusta, Georgia, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 30 from a transmitter in the Spiderweb section of Beech Island,...
in Augusta, GeorgiaAugusta is a consolidated city in the U.S. state of Georgia, located along the Savannah River. As of the 2010 census, the Augusta–Richmond County population was 195,844 not counting the unconsolidated cities of Hephzibah and Blythe.Augusta is the principal city of the Augusta-Richmond County...
(whose service area includes part of South Carolina) Sanford declared that it would be his last campaign.
Political actions
In dissent with the Republican Party of South Carolina, Sanford, an EpiscopalianThe Episcopal Church is a mainline Anglican Christian church found mainly in the United States , but also in Honduras, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands and parts of Europe...
, opposed the faith-based license plates his state offers, marketed largely to the state's conservative evangelical citizens. After allowing the law to pass without his signature, he wrote "It is my personal view that the largest proclamation of one's faith ought to be in how one lives his life."
After the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, abbreviated ARRA and commonly referred to as the Stimulus or The Recovery Act, is an economic stimulus package enacted by the 111th United States Congress in February 2009 and signed into law on February 17, 2009, by President Barack Obama.To...
, which Governor Sanford strongly opposed and publicly criticized before and after its passage by CongressThe United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
and presidential signing, Sanford initially indicated he might not accept all of the funds allotted by the spending law to South Carolina. He was criticized by many Democrats and some moderate Republicans both in his state and outside who noted South Carolina's 9.5% unemployment rate (one of the highest in the country) and complained that Sanford wasn't doing enough to improve economic conditions in his state, which could be alleviated by the stimulus money. Arnold SchwarzeneggerArnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
, the Republican governorThe Governor of California is the chief executive of the California state government, whose responsibilities include making annual State of the State addresses to the California State Legislature, submitting the budget, and ensuring that state laws are enforced...
of CaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, suggested that if Sanford or other governors rejected their portion of stimulus funds, he would be happy to take them instead.
On March 11, 2009, Sanford became the first United States governor to formally reject a portion of the federal stimulus money earmarked by Congress for the state of South Carolina. Sanford compromised to accept the federal money on condition that the state legislature provide matching funds to pay down the South Carolina state debt. On April 3, 2009, Sanford signed paperwork enabling South Carolina to receive the bailout money.{{Citation needed|date=May 2010}}
Rankings
In its April 2010 report, ethics watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in WashingtonCitizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington is a nonprofit 501 organization that describes itself as "dedicated to promoting ethics and accountability in government and public life by targeting government officials – regardless of party affiliation – who sacrifice the common good to...
named Sanford one of 11 "worst governors" in the United States because of various ethics issues throughout Sanford's term as governor and his time in Congress. Some of Sanford's ethics lapses cited by the watchdog include:
- Abused his office for his personal benefit and the benefit of his friends
- Violated campaign finance laws by failing to report in-kind contributions and improperly converting campaign funds for personal use
- Subordinated his responsibilities to his pursuit of an extramarital affair
- Endangered his state’s economy by threatening to refuse stimulus funds
The libertarianLibertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
Cato InstituteThe Cato Institute is a libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1977 by Edward H. Crane, who remains president and CEO, and Charles Koch, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the conglomerate Koch Industries, Inc., the largest privately held...
ranked Mark Sanford as the best governor in America in their 2010 fiscal policy report card, describing him as "a staunch supporter of spending restraint and pro-growth tax reforms".
Disappearance and extramarital affair
{{Main|Mark Sanford disappearance and extramarital affair}}
From June 18 until June 24, 2009, the whereabouts of Governor Sanford were unknown to the public, as well as to his wife and the State Law Enforcement Division, which provides security for him, garnering nationwide news coverage. Lieutenant GovernorIn the United States, 43 of the 50 states have a separate, full-time office of lieutenant governor. In most cases, the lieutenant governor is the highest officer of state after the governor, standing in for that officer when he or she is absent from the state or temporarily incapacitated...
André BauerRudolph Andreas "André" Bauer was the 87th Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina from 2003 to 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party...
announced that he could not "take lightly that his staff has not had communication with him for more than four days, and that no one, including his own family, knows his whereabouts."
Before his disappearance, Governor Sanford told his staff that he would be hiking on the Appalachian TrailThe Appalachian National Scenic Trail, generally known as the Appalachian Trail or simply the AT, is a marked hiking trail in the eastern United States extending between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine. It is approximately long...
and while he was gone he did not answer 15 cell phone calls from his chief of staff Scott English; he also failed to call his family on Father's Day.
Several hours after a reporter intercepted Governor Sanford arriving at Atlanta's airport after flying back from ArgentinaArgentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, and upon learning that incriminating evidence was being swiftly mobilized against him by the media, Sanford held a news conference, during which he admitted that he had been unfaithful to his wife.
In emotional interviews with the Associated PressThe Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
over two days, Mark Sanford said he would die "knowing that I had met my soul mate." Sanford also said that he "crossed the lines" with a handful of other women during 20 years of marriage, but not as far as he did with his mistress.
"There were a handful of instances wherein I crossed the lines I shouldn't have crossed as a married man, but never crossed the ultimate line," he said.
On June 25, La NaciónLa Nación is an Argentine daily newspaper. The country's leading conservative paper, the centrist Clarín is its main competitor. It is the only newspaper in Argentina still published in broadsheet format.-Overview:...
, a Buenos AiresBuenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
newspaper, identified the Argentine woman as María Belén Chapur, a 43-year-old divorced mother of two with a university degree in international relationsInternational relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...
who lives in the city of Buenos AiresBuenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
and works as a commodity broker . The State earlier had published details of e-mails between Sanford and a woman only identified as "Maria." Sanford met Chapur at a dance in UruguayUruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
in 2001 and admitted there was a more intimate relationship with her starting in 2008.
Sanford's wife had become aware of her husband's infidelities around five months before the scandal broke, and the two had sought marriage counseling. She said that she had requested a trial separationA trial separation is an informal splitting of a couple. Unlike legal separation, this is purely a personal arrangement and does not require legal proceedings...
about two weeks before his disappearance.
Governor Sanford told reporters that months before his affair became public he had sought counsel at a controversial religious organization called The FamilyThe Fellowship, also known as the Family, is a U.S.-based religious and political organization founded in 1935 by Abraham Vereide. The stated purpose of the Fellowship is to provide a fellowship forum for decision makers to share in Bible studies, prayer meetings, worship experiences and to...
, of which he became a member when he was a Representative in Washington, D.C. from 1995 to 2001.
Fallout from scandal
His wife, Jenny SanfordJennifer Sullivan Sanford is the former First Lady of South Carolina, heiress, and former investment banker.She was married to Governor Mark Sanford, whose initial campaigns she substantially funded...
, after telling VogueVogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine that is published monthly in 18 national and one regional edition by Condé Nast.-History:In 1892 Arthur Turnure founded Vogue as a weekly publication in the United States. When he died in 1909, Condé Montrose Nast picked up the magazine and slowly began...
magazine that her husband was having a “midlife crisis”, moved out of the South Carolina Governor's MansionThe South Carolina Governor's Mansion is a historic U.S. governor's mansion in the Arsenal Hill neighborhood of Columbia, South Carolina and the official residence of the Governor of South Carolina. It is a Federal style home influenced by British Colonial plantations...
, with the couple’s four sons, returning to the family home on Sullivan's Island.
On December 11, 2009, Jenny SanfordJennifer Sullivan Sanford is the former First Lady of South Carolina, heiress, and former investment banker.She was married to Governor Mark Sanford, whose initial campaigns she substantially funded...
announced that she was filing for divorce, calling it a "sad and painful process." On February 26, 2010, a Charleston County, South CarolinaCharleston County is a county located in the U.S. state of South Carolina. According to a 2005 U.S. Census Bureau estimate, its population was 330,368. Its county seat is Charleston. It is the third-most populous county in the state . Charleston County was created in 1901 by an act of the South...
Family Court Judge approved her request.
Resignation as Chairman of the Republican Governors Association
Sanford resigned as Chairman of the Republican Governors AssociationThe Republican Governors Association is a Washington, D.C.-based 527 organization founded in 1963, consisting of U.S. state and territorial governors affiliated with the Republican Party.Its Democratic Party counterpart is the Democratic Governors Association...
, and he was swiftly succeeded by MississippiMississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
Governor Haley BarbourHaley Reeves Barbour is an American Republican politician currently serving as the 63rd Governor of Mississippi. He gained a national spotlight in August 2005 after Mississippi was hit by Hurricane Katrina. Barbour won re-election as Governor in 2007...
. In a June 29 email to members of his political action committee, Sanford said he had no intention of resigning as Governor.
Reimbursement for his private use of public funds
After his affair was revealed in June 2009, Sanford first claimed, "There's been a lot of speculation and innuendo on whether or not public moneys were used to advance my admitted unfaithfulness. To be very clear: no public money was ever used in connection with this." After a reporter used the Freedom of Information Act to seek records of what public funds were used to pay for Sanford's trip to Argentina, Sanford eventually chose to reimburse taxpayers for expenses he had incurred one year earlier with his mistress in Argentina. He said, "I made a mistake while I was there in meeting with the woman who I was unfaithful to my wife with. That has raised some very legitimate concerns and questions, and as such I am going to reimburse the state for the full cost of the Argentina leg of this trip.” On August 9, 2009, the AP reported that Sanford may have violated state law by other abusive use of state planes, including to fly to get a haircut.
Impeachment proceedings
On August 25, state representatives Nathan BallentineNathan Ballentine is a Republican member of the South Carolina House of Representatives, representing the House District 71 since 2005.Nathan was born in Richland County and, for almost two decades, has chosen to work, live, and raise his family in the community named after his ancestors...
and Gary Simrill met with Sanford and warned him that the state legislature would impeach him if he did not resign. Ballentine, an ally of Sanford's, said afterward, "I told him the writing is on the wall. ...he could put an end to it all, but if he doesn't, members of the House will take things into their hands." Sanford still declined to resign.
On August 28, The Washington TimesThe Washington Times is a daily broadsheet newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. It was founded in 1982 by Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon, and until 2010 was owned by News World Communications, an international media conglomerate associated with the...
reported that Republican lawmakers in South Carolina were "laying plans" for a special legislative session on whether to impeach Sanford. Two bills of impeachment were being prepared, with bipartisan support in the state legislature.
On October 23, 2009, two impeachment resolutions were introduced, but were blocked by Democrats in the South Carolina legislature. A month later, the resolution was successfully introduced and it was announced that an ad hoc committee would begin drafting articles of impeachment starting on November 24. Meanwhile, the Ethics Commission formally charged the Governor with 37 violations. making his removal or resignation all that more likely.
On December 3, during its third public hearing on the matter, the ad hoc committee unanimously voted to remove the vast majority of charges from the investigation, stating that they didn't warrant "overturning an election." On December 9, the committee voted 6-1 against impeachment, stating that the legislature had better things to do. However, the committee voted unanimously to censure the governor. On the 16th the full House Judiciary Committee voted 15-6 to formally end the process.
Censure
On December 15, 2009, the House Judiciary Committee voted unanimously to censure Governor Sanford. The full South Carolina House of RepresentativesThe South Carolina House of Representatives is the lower house of the South Carolina General Assembly, the upper house being the South Carolina Senate. It consists of 124 Representatives elected to two year terms at the same time as US Congressional elections...
voted 102-11 on the resolution in January 2010.
Role in 2008 presidential election
In 2006, before the midterm elections, some commentators discussed the possibility of Sanford running for president.{{Citation needed|date=June 2009}} He said that he would not run, and claimed that his re-election bid would be his last election, win or lose. After Super TuesdaySuper Tuesday 2008, Super Duper Tuesday, Mega Tuesday, Giga Tuesday, Tsunami Tuesday, and The Tuesday of Destiny are names for February 5, 2008, the day on which the largest simultaneous number of state U.S. presidential primary elections in the history of U.S. primaries were held...
in 2008, Governor Sanford received some mention as a potential running mate for the presumptive RepublicanThe Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
presidential candidate, John McCainJohn Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
.
Sanford publicly aligned himself with McCain in a March 15, 2008, piece in the Wall Street Journal. Likening the presidential race to a footballAmerican football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
game at halftime, Sanford noted that he "sat out the first half, not endorsing a candidate...But I'm now stepping onto the field and going to work to help John McCain. It's important that conservatives do the same."
On January 11, 2008, shortly before the South Carolina presidential primaries (R Jan 19, D Jan 26), Governor Sanford published a guest column in the ColumbiaColumbia is the state capital and largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The population was 129,272 according to the 2010 census. Columbia is the county seat of Richland County, but a portion of the city extends into neighboring Lexington County. The city is the center of a metropolitan...
newspaper The State. In the article, "Obama's Symbolism Here", Sanford wrote, "I won't be voting for Barack Obama for president," but noted the "historical burden" borne by South Carolinians on the topic of race. He advised voters in South Carolina to take note of the symbolism of Obama's early success, with the knowledge that South Carolina was a segregated state less than fifty years earlier, and discouraged voting either for or against Obama on the basis of his race.
In a January 18, 2008 interview with CNNCable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
's Wolf BlitzerWolf Isaac Blitzer is an American journalist who has been a CNN reporter since 1990. Blitzer is currently the host of the newscast The Situation Room and was the host of the Sunday talk show Late Edition until it was discontinued on January 11, 2009...
, Sanford discussed his Obama article. Wolf Blitzer asked, "Give us your mind-set. Why did you think it was so important to write this piece right now at this critical moment?" Governor Sanford responded, "Well, it plays into a larger conversation that we're having as a family of South Carolinians on, in fact, the [constitutional] structure of our government." Also, Wolf Blitzer showed Sanford clips of recent comments made by John McCain and Mike HuckabeeMichael "Mike" Dale Huckabee is an American politician who served as the 44th Governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007. He was a candidate in the 2008 United States Republican presidential primaries, finishing second in delegate count and third in both popular vote and number of states won . He won...
about the Confederate battle flag and asked the Governor, "All right, two different positions, obviously. Who's right in this?" Sanford responded, "Well, it depends who you talk to." Sanford elaborated that "if you were to talk to the vast majority of South Carolinians, they would say that we do not need to be debating where the Confederate flag is or is not."
Sanford attracted derision in the liberalLiberalism in the United States is a broad political philosophy centered on the unalienable rights of the individual. The fundamental liberal ideals of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion for all belief systems, and the separation of church and state, right to due process...
blogosphereThe blogosphere is made up of all blogs and their interconnections. The term implies that blogs exist together as a connected community or as a social network in which everyday authors can publish their opinions...
and among pundits and analysts on the left for a gaffe during an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer on July 13, 2008, when he had difficulty answering a question about differences between Senator McCain and incumbent President George W. BushGeorge Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
on economic policy. "I'm drawing a blank, and I hate when I do that, especially on television," joked Sanford.
Possible 2012 candidacy
As early as January 2008, there had been anticipation that Mark Sanford would run for President in 2012The United States presidential election of 2012 is the next United States presidential election, to be held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012. It will be the 57th quadrennial presidential election in which presidential electors, who will actually elect the President and the Vice President of the United...
, and online support groups have sprung up on virtual social networks like FacebookFacebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
in support of a Sanford ticket.
Further boosting Sanford's profile in advance of a potential candidacy, which the governor has neither ruled out nor expressly hinted at, he was elected as Chairman of the Republican Governors AssociationThe Republican Governors Association is a Washington, D.C.-based 527 organization founded in 1963, consisting of U.S. state and territorial governors affiliated with the Republican Party.Its Democratic Party counterpart is the Democratic Governors Association...
in November 2008 and was cited by Michael S. SteeleMichael Stephen Steele is an American politician who served as the first African-American chairman of the Republican National Committee from January 2009 until January 2011. From 2003 to 2007, he was the seventh Lieutenant Governor of Maryland, the first African American elected to statewide...
, the Chairman of the Republican PartyThe Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
as one of four "rising stars" in the GOP (alongside Governors Bobby JindalPiyush "Bobby" Jindal is the 55th and current Governor of Louisiana and formerly a member of the United States House of Representatives. He is a member of the Republican Party....
of LouisianaLouisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, Tim PawlentyTimothy James "Tim" Pawlenty , also known affectionately among supporters as T-Paw, is an American politician who served as the 39th Governor of Minnesota . He was a Republican candidate for President of the United States in the 2012 election from May to August 2011...
of MinnesotaMinnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
and Sarah PalinSarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice-presidency.She was...
of AlaskaAlaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
) in February 2009. Sanford also received early support for a presidential run from the Republican Liberty CaucusThe Republican Liberty Caucus is a political action organization dedicated to promoting the ideals of individual liberty, limited government and free market economics within the Republican Party in the United States. It is part of the libertarian wing of the Republican Party...
.
On February 22, 2009, Governor Sanford declined to rule out a possible presidential bid in 2012, though he professed to have no current plans to run for national office.
Washington Post blogger Chris Cillizza says that revelations of an extramarital affair in June 2009 ended Sanford's chances of being a serious candidate in 2012.
On January 4, 2010, Governor Sanford admitted that, "If there's anything that's abundantly clear, it's that I ain't running for president." In the same Republican meeting, he also indicated that he would enter the private sector after his last 11 months as Governor.
Post-Political Career
Following completion of his service as Governor of South Carolina in January, 2011, Sanford moved to his family farm in Beaufort County, South Carolina-National protected areas:*Ernest F. Hollings ACE Basin National Wildlife Refuge *Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 155,215 people, 45,532 households, and 33,056 families residing in the county. The population density was 206 people per...
. In October, 2011, he was hired as a paid political contributor for Fox News ChannelFox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...
.
Books
In 2000 Sanford's first book, The Trust Committed To Me, was published. It discussed term limitA term limit is a legal restriction that limits the number of terms a person may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method to curb the potential for monopoly, where a leader effectively becomes "president for...
s, and featured a foreword by Robert NovakRobert David Sanders "Bob" Novak was an American syndicated columnist, journalist, television personality, author, and conservative political commentator. After working for two newspapers before serving for the U.S. Army in the Korean War, he became a reporter for the Associated Press and then for...
. A second book, titled Within Our Means, was scheduled to be published by SentinelSentinel was established in 2003 as a dedicated conservative imprint within Penguin Group . It publishes a wide variety of right-of-center books on subjects like politics, history, public policy, culture, religion and international relations...
in 2010: however the contract was terminated by mutual agreement after the revelation of Sanford's extramarital affair.
Electoral history
{{ushr|South Carolina|1|}
}: Results 1994–1998
!|Year
!
!|Democrat
!|Votes
!|Pct
!
!|Republican
!|Votes
!|Pct
!
!|3rd Party
!|Party
!|Votes
!|Pct
!
|-
|1994
|
|{{Party shading/Democratic}} |Robert A. Barber, Jr.Robert Barber of Charleston was the 2006 Democratic Party's Nominee for Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina. In November 2006, Barber faced off against incumbent Republican Lieutenant Governor Andre Bauer, who sought a second term in office, defeating Barber in the General Election.-Early life...
|{{Party shading/Democratic}} align="right" |47,769
|{{Party shading/Democratic}} |32%
|
|{{Party shading/Republican}} |{{nowrap|Mark Sanford}}
|{{Party shading/Republican}} align="right" |97,803
|{{Party shading/Republican}} |66%
|
|{{Party shading/Libertarian}} |Robert Payne
|{{Party shading/Libertarian}} |LibertarianThe Libertarian Party is the third largest and fastest growing political party in the United States. The political platform of the Libertarian Party reflects its brand of libertarianism, favoring minimally regulated, laissez-faire markets, strong civil liberties, minimally regulated migration...
|{{Party shading/Libertarian}} align="right" |1,836
|{{Party shading/Libertarian}} align="right" |1%
| |*
|-
|1996
|
|{{Party shading/Democratic}} |(no candidate)
|{{Party shading/Democratic}} align="right" |
|{{Party shading/Democratic}} |
|
|{{Party shading/Republican}} |Mark Sanford
|{{Party shading/Republican}} align="right" |138,467
|{{Party shading/Republican}} |96%
|
|{{Party shading/Independent}} |Joseph F. Innella
|{{Party shading/Independent}} |Natural Law
|{{Party shading/Independent}} align="right" |5,105
|{{Party shading/Independent}} align="right" |4%
|
|-
|1998
|
|{{Party shading/Democratic}} |(no candidate)
|{{Party shading/Democratic}} align="right" |
|{{Party shading/Democratic}} |
|
|{{Party shading/Republican}} |Mark Sanford
|{{Party shading/Republican}} align="right" |118,414
|{{Party shading/Republican}} |91%
|
|{{Party shading/Independent}} |Joseph F. Innella
|{{Party shading/Independent}} |Natural Law
|{{Party shading/Independent}} align="right" |11,586
|{{Party shading/Independent}} align="right" |9%
| |*
{{S-end}}
{{Election box begin |title=South Carolina Gubernatorial Election 2002}}
{{Election box candidate with party link
| |party = Republican Party (US)
|candidate = Mark Sanford
|votes = 583,339
|percentage = 52.9
|change =
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link
| |party = Democratic Party (US)
|candidate = Jim Hodges (Incumbent)
|votes = 518,310
|percentage = 47.3
|change =
}}
{{Election box end}}
{{Election box begin |title=South Carolina Gubernatorial Election 2006}}
{{Election box candidate with party link
| |party = Republican Party (US)
|candidate = Mark Sanford (Incumbent)
|votes = 601,868
|percentage = 55.1
|change = +2.2
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link
| |party = Democratic Party (US)
|candidate = Tommy MooreTommy L. Moore is a South Carolina businessman and former state politician who is now an executive of a payday lending association in Washington, D.C...
|votes = 489,076
|percentage = 44.8
|change =
}}
{{Election box end}}
External links
{{Portal box|South Carolina|Biography}}
{{commons}}
U.S. Representative (1994–2006)
{{CongLinks | congbio = s000051 | votesmart = | govtrack = | cspan = | ontheissuespath = | surge = | legistorm = | fec = H4SC01073 | opensecrets = N00002424 | followthemoney = | nyt = | findagrave = }}
- Statements
- Open Session On The Western Hemisphere Today: A Roundtable Discussion, Hearing Before The Subcommittee On The Western Hemisphere Of The Committee On International Relations, House Of Representatives, One Hundred Fifth Congress, First Session, March 12, 1997
- The Caribbean: An Overview Hearing Before The Subcommittee On The Western Hemisphere Of The Committee On International Relations House Of Representatives One Hundred Fifth Congress First Session May 14, 1997
- The President's Foreign Assistance Budget Request For Fiscal Year 1999 Hearing Before The Committee On International Relations House Of Representatives One Hundred Fifth Congress Second Session March 5, 1998
- Latin America And The Caribbean: An Update And Summary Of The Summit Of The Americas Hearing Before The Subcommittee On The Western Hemisphere Of The Committee On International Relations House Of Representatives One Hundred Fifth Congress Second Session May 6, 1998
- Franchise Fee Calculations Of Fort Sumter Tours, Inc. Oversight Hearing Before The Subcommittee On National Parks And Public Lands Of The Committee On Resources House Of Representatives One Hundred Sixth Congress First Session July 1, 1999, Washington, Dc Serial No. 106–44
- Reform of the IMF and the World Bank: Hearing before the Joint Economic Committee Congress of the United States, 106th Congress, Second Session, April 12, 2000 Sanford's remarks begin on page 32. 1.1 MB PDF
- The Center For National Policy: Issues in U.S.-Cuba Policy, Washington D.C., November 2000 Sanford speaks in favor of lifting U.S. embargo of Cuba. 314 KB PDF
{{s-start}}
{{s-par|us-hs}}
{{s-bef|before=Arthur RavenelArthur Ravenel, Jr. is a businessman and a Republican politician from Charleston, South Carolina.-Early life:The Charleston-born Ravenel served in the United States Marine Corps from 1945 to 1946. He thereafter received a bachelor of science degree from the College of Charleston in 1950. He is a...
}}
{{s-ttl|title=Member of the House of Representatives
from South Carolina's 1st congressional districtThe 1st Congressional District of South Carolina is a coastal congressional district in South Carolina. It stretches from Seabrook Island in the south to the North Carolina border and includes parts of Charleston, Dorchester, Berkeley and Georgetown counties and all of Horry county...
|years=1995–2001}}
{{s-aft|after=Henry BrownHenry Edward Brown, Jr. is a former U.S. Representative for , serving from 2001 until 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party...
}}
|-
{{s-off}}
{{s-bef|before=Jim HodgesJames Hovis "Jim" Hodges is a Democrat who served one term as the 114th Governor of South Carolina from 1999 until 2003.-Early career:...
}}
{{s-ttl|title=Governor of South CarolinaThe Governor of the State of South Carolina is the head of state for the State of South Carolina. Under the South Carolina Constitution, the Governor is also the head of government, serving as the chief executive of the South Carolina executive branch. The Governor is the ex officio...
|years=2003–2011}}
{{s-aft|after=Nikki HaleyNimrata Nikki Randhawa Haley is the 116th and current Governor of South Carolina. A member of the Republican Party, Haley represented Lexington County in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 2005 to 2010....
}}
{{s-end}}
{{Governors of South Carolina}}
{{Persondata
| NAME =Sanford, Mark
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
| SHORT DESCRIPTION =
| DATE OF BIRTH =May 28, 1960
| PLACE OF BIRTH =Fort Lauderdale, FloridaFort Lauderdale is a city in the U.S. state of Florida, on the Atlantic coast. It is the county seat of Broward County. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 165,521. It is a principal city of the South Florida metropolitan area, which was home to 5,564,635 people at the 2010...
| DATE OF DEATH =
| PLACE OF DEATH =
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanford, Mark}}