Governor Sanford attacked the good old boy system head on. He consistently vetoed legislators' overspending and pork projects, and they hated him for it. He would send down budget vetoes and the GOP-led legislature would summarily override them. The year before I came to the house, in 2004, Governor Sanford issued 106 budget vetoes. The legislature took just 90 minutes to override 105 of them.
In the spring of 2009, Governor Sanford had waged a fierce (and ultimately unsuccessful) battle against the spending, even against its funding for South Carolina. His principled, fiscally conservative stand didn't sit too well with the national media or the South Carolina establishment, but it made him a hero to many South Carolinians and others across the country. Not only did he fight the stimulus, but he also fought the Washington bailouts, whether they were of the banks or the auto companies.
"We all need to remember that the rarest of all political commodities is courage--that willingness to take a stand based on something you believe in, regardless of the consequences that will come your way," he said, looking up from his speech to the members of the legislature. "As we all know, there was a price that they paid for the stand that they took, and yet change has begun as the result of the stand they took." Governor Sanford was right. Change had begun. The people were starting to demand it.
After initially saying she was sure he was just taking some time away from the kids to write, Jenny Sanford changed her tone and her message. "I am being a mom today," she told CNN. "I have not heard from my husband." Clearly, something was not right.
A local reporter, acting on an anonymous trip, met Sanford as he stepped off a flight from Buenos Aires. Later that day, the governor held an emotional press conference. He confessed to being unfaithful to his wife and traveling to Argentina to meet his mistress.
Any presidential aspirations he had, needless to say, were gone. His career in state politics seemed to be effectively over.
For my part, I tried to shift the focus back to the reform agenda. Almost alone among political figures in the state, I did not push him to resign or be impeached. "The people of South Carolina have heard enough about the governor's personal life," I said at that time.
You could say that Governor Sanford was lucky in his timing. The legislature had just recessed when the scandal broke. When the issue of impeachment was raised, some of the legislators maintained that the rules didn't allow an impeachment vote until the legislature reconvened in January 2010.
In typical Sanford fashion, the governor fired back by having a press conference outside Senator Thomas's law office. He accused his critics of "selective outrage" and showed that previous administrations had passed up economy class at least 230 times since 1984. He accused his opponents of playing politics. "Me hanging up the spurs 16 months out, as comfortable as that would be, it is wrong," he said.
I had studied the charges against the governor carefully. I continued to defend him against calls for his impeachment because I didn't believe his actions warranted impeachment.
|
The above quotations are from Can't Is Not an Option My American Story by Gov. Nikki Haley. Click here for other excerpts from Can't Is Not an Option My American Story by Gov. Nikki Haley. Click here for other excerpts by Mark Sanford. Click here for other excerpts by other Governors.
Please consider a donation to OnTheIssues.org!
| Click for details -- or send donations to: 1770 Mass Ave. #630, Cambridge MA 02140 E-mail: submit@OnTheIssues.org (We rely on your support!) |