by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright June 24, 2009
All Rights Reserved.

        Displaying a sick case of midlife crazies, South Carolina’s 49-year-old governor Marshall Clement “Mark” Sanford Jr. joined a growing list of elected officials whose sexual obsessions make them unfit for public office.  Sanford, who resigned as chairman of the Republican Governors’ Leadership Association, should immediately resign from the South Carolina statehouse.  Disappearing before Fathers’ Day, Sanford was AWOL from his official duties, telling his staff he was hiking on the Appalachian Trail, when he rendezvoused for his last tango in Buenos Aires with his Argentine mistress.  Another rising star in the GOP bites the dust, joining only last week Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.), whose dirty love triangle dashed his hopes of presidential run in 2012.  Like Ensign, Sanford’s problems stem from not from his affair but the incredibly bad judgment that led to his downfall.

            When New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer went down soliciting high-priced call girl  Ashley Alexandra Dupré March  12, 2008, he faced the microphones utterly humiliated with his forlorn Harvard lawyer wife Silda Wall by his side.  Spitzer’s 85-year-old real estate tycoon father, Bernard, would have traded his fortune and lived in the Bronx to escape the disgrace.  Sanford and Spitzer both believed their narcissism provided magical invisibility to the media, or in Spitzer’s case, the FBI tracking the flow of money from clandestine bank transfers.  Sanford disappeared Thursday, June 18, fueling rampant speculation.  When he arrived from Argentina at Atlanta’s Hartsfied-Jackson International Airport he told his hometown newspaper “The Slate,” he wanted to do something “exotic,” flying to Argentina.  There was no mention of whom he met or what he did down under.

            When Sanford’s whereabouts were still in doubt, “The State,” obtained secret e-mails to an unidentified mistress.  “I could digress and say that you have the ability to give magnificent gentle kisses, or that I love you tan lines or that I love the curve of your hips, the erotic beauty of you hold yourself [or tow magnificent parts of yourself] in the faded glow of the night’s light—but hey, that would be going into sexual details,” Sanford wrote on official government time before his jaunt to Buenos Aires.  Going AWOL, without any transition plan, reveals how Sanford’s peccadillo clouded his thinking, eclipsed rational judgment and left himself and the state of South Carolina in jeopardy.  Realizing he was caught red-handed, Sanford joined Spitzer, and, more recently, Ensign, facing the press for a contrived mea culpa.  “What I did was wrong.  Period,” said Sanford, manning up.

            Telling the press June 24, “I’ve been unfaithful to my wife,” admitting he spent the last five days “crying in Argentina,” apparently knowing the mess he’d be returning to.  If he really spent five days crying, he’s probably suffering from a mood disorder or some other mental condition making him unfit for office.  His constituents and the South Carolina legislature need him to take responsibility for grossly mismanaging his duties and step down.  While it’s OK to apologize, phony excuses don’t undo gross acts of professional negligence.  Sanford, as a young congressman from South Carolina, voted in 1998 for Articles of Impeachment against former President Bill Clinton,” for “lying” about his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.  “Lies, Lies, Lies.  That's all we get from his staff.  That’s all we get from his people.  That’s all we get from him,” said state Sen. Jake Knotts (Rep. W. Columbia).

            Sanford’s malfeasance stems not from his affair but from his lies and dereliction of duty.  “He left the state unattended,” said Columbia resident Glenn Mitchell, echoing the views of legislators that the governor showed a lack of concern for the state.  “There’s nothing left to save,” said State Rep. Todd Rutherford (D-Columbia), calling for Sanford’s resignation.  “There is no reason for him to remain as governor,” reflecting the collective disgust sweeping the state.  Expecting elected officials or voters to “forgive and forget” totally ignores the unforgivable lapses of judgment that warrants Sanford’s immediate dismissal.  Consumed with sexual obsession, the governor put his own sickness before his constitutional duties.  While such problems deserve professional help, he must solicit such services not as governor but as South Carolina citizen, resigning his post immediately.

            Sanford’s problems are symptomatic of the kind of personalities that too often intrude into politics.  Elected officials must be held to higher standards not of morality necessarily but of professionalism and rational judgment.  Reckless behavior has no place in elective office responsible for managing the ship of state and well-being of taxpayers to whom they’re accountable.  “I hurt a lot of different folks,” said Sanford, not realizing that, above all, he hurt himself, someone with so much promise.  Like Spitzer, whose obsession with call girls destroyed his career, Sanford became a victim of his own narcissism, getting too much mileage out of cheap thrills, not considering the consequences of his self-desctructive behavior.  For the prophet of fiscal conservatism and family values, Sanford gave his the GOP another black eye, blurring the distinction he likes to make with Democrats.

 About the Author

 John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.  He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.