AWOL SC Governor Sanford Down Argentine Way

On Monday, the national press picks up that South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford has been missing for four days.  Well… not missing per say.  His wife wasn’t concerned.  Jenny Sanford told the Associated Press she wasn’t worried.  “He was writing something and wanted some space to get away from the kids,” she said while vacationing with the couple’s four sons.

Political rivals at the State House were a little more concerned.  “The governor needs to be available to the people. He doesn’t have to give the world his mobile number, but he’s got to be where he can be contacted,” said state Sen. Jake Knotts.

“Nobody knows where he is. He’s out of pocket. They’ve been looking for him since Thursday.”  Knotts, a longtime Republican critic of the governor’s, complained that no one knows who is in charge. Knotts continued saying that Sanford would have to quit taking mystery vacations if he wants to trade the corner office for the Oval Office.

Sanford made a name for himself in national conservative circles for refusing to take $700 million in Federal stimulus funds. This proved to be more bark than bite, when the South Carolina legislature and a state court order required him to take the money.

On Tuesday, Sanford checks in saying that he was hiking the Appalachian Trial.  His spokesperson Joel Sawyer told the press, “It would be fair to say the governor was somewhat taken aback by all of the interest this trip has gotten.” Come on the guy is the chairman of the Republican Governors Association and considered a leading Republican presidential candidate in 2012.   And gee, running South Carolina is so stressful.  Why can’t the chief elected official just disappear?  Not tell his wife, the Lt. Governor, or anyone else he’s going off the grid.

And today we find out that Sanford wasn’t hiking… he was in Argentina!?  He was wrapping up a year long affair.  Cause that what all the cool politicians do: John Ensign, John Edwards, etc.  “I spent the last five days of my life crying in Argentina,” Sanford said at an extraordinary, rambling press conference in Columbia, S.C.  He choked up three times and he apologized to his wife, Jenny; his four sons;  his in-laws; his friends; his staff; people of faith and his state.  “I’ve let down a lot of people, that’s the bottom line,” he said. “I hurt her (his mistress), I hurt my wife,  I hurt my boys. . . . I hurt a lot of different folks.”

I don’t care that he had an affair.  Please don’t let this guy go on Oprah or 20/20 to “explain” himself.  I’m more concerned with the shirking of duties as an elected official thing.  You aren’t the sheriff of Mayberry gone down to the fishin’ hole for the afternoon.  You are the chief executive of a state, — granted a really small one, that clearly doesn’t have a lot rules on how to cope.   See the statement from  South Carolina House Speaker Bobby Harrell:

“For five days the governor let his staff deceive the press and the people of South Carolina regarding where he was and what he was doing. The governor’s absence has brought to light some issues regarding the chain of command in the absence of the chief executive. It is imperative that the General Assembly deal with this during the next session.”

Now three things will come to mind when I hear Argentina: 1940′s Musicals, Evita, and AWOL governors from South Carolina.