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Sanford's lying staff proves he was recklessly missing after all
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[This is an update of my initial column on the Where is Mark Sanford? story]
I was wrong in my initial conclusion that the Drive-by media was doing a hit job on the first Republican I ever voted for. It is now clear to me that South Carolina's Governor was reckless in the conduct of his office. I initially relied upon the seeming contradiction between "missing" headlines and this statement in the body of the stories about Mark Sanford's whereabouts:
His communications director, Joel Sawyer, wouldn’t disclose Sanford’s location but said that before the governor left town last week “he let staff know his whereabouts and that he'd be difficult to reach.”
Given Governor Sanford's admission yesterday that he has been in Argentina together with statements from his staff that he was on the Appalachian Trail, it is clear that Sanford was not in sufficient communication with his staff so as to be diligent in the conduct of the responsibilities of his office.
I have no problem with a governor getting away from it all, but he must stay in touch with the situation in his state. An astute political observer assured me early on that she was sure he had a second cell phone in another name for this purpose. I agree, but it is obvious that he didn't utilize any sufficient communication medium for at least 48-72 hours, or he was aware of the controversy and decided to let it continue.
That may have been ok, by itself. After all, if he is aware of the fact that no hurricane has hit the state nor that any other emergency event has occurred, then he knows that he can at any time, appear on the scene. But when your staff is lying to cover for you, then the situation is unacceptable.
I draw no conclusions about his marital/family situation, but would only say that the same rule I applied to Bill Clinton applies to Sanford. That rule is that it is not acceptable for executive office holders to put themselves in a position to be blackmailed.
For years, I considered Sanford a bit of a flake with his Ron Paul-like voting record as a congressman and pig battles with big government state legislators in his own party. And, yes he is a flake. But that does not disqualify, and I actually admire his flakiness, even his daring to have a private life and not let the press lead him around by the nose. I had come, as you will see below in my original story from a few days ago, that he has won me over on his political positions on the stimulus and more.
But the position he put his staff in could well disqualify him from a credible presidential campaign even if, as is likely, he has learned a valuable lesson that he would never violate again.
p.s. I suspect the reporters of the initial story could tell by the body language of Sanford's aides that they were lying.
Mike DeVine’s Charlotte Observer and Minority Report columns
"One man with courage makes a majority." - Andrew Jackson
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