600 Pages of Sanford's Emails and Phone Calls Released

Click Here to download Sanford's communications director Joel Sawyer's emails

E-mails just released by Gov. Mark Sanford's office show that his affair with a woman from Argentina may have cost more than his political future and embarrassment. He turned down a dinner invitation from a South Carolina company that's considering expanding its plant here. Before releasing it, along with hundreds of other emails, the governor's staff blacked out the name of the company, its location, how much it's considering investing in an expansion and how many jobs that might create.

When asked how the governor responds to the charge that his affair caused him not to give job creation the attention it deserves, his spokesman, Joel Sawyer, said, "The governor has talked in great detail about the mistakes he has made, and has apologized for those mistakes. He is committed to the process of building back the trust of South Carolinians."

But South Carolina's unemployment rate is 12.1 percent, third-highest in the country. Judging by the responses of some of the unemployed people of the state, who were at the Employment Security Commission office in Columbia Tuesday, the governor has a lot of work to do.

After hearing about the governor turning down a potential opportunity to create jobs, and his response to that, unemployed teacher Erica Myers said, "It's not so adequate, as in he's saying that he's trying to build trust, but we need to see that he's working toward helping us to get more jobs. So that's the way we get trust."

Unemployed law enforcement officer Daniel Wright says, "I don't think he can rebuild trust. It's time for him to move on."

The dinner invitation was for June 24, so the company is probably still considering an expansion. But since the company's name and other information was blacked out, we don't know.

The emails also show that the governor turned down another invitation, this time to celebrate the expansion of another South Carolina business. The reason his scheduler turned down the invitation was that "his schedule has him totally jammed."

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Phone records show South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford did not use his state-issued cell phone to return numerous calls from staff during his six-day trip to visit his mistress in Argentina. Sanford, who admitted to a yearlong affair with the woman, has said he could have contacted his office while he was out of the country starting June 18. In an interview with The Associated Press, the governor said he had "back channel" methods of being reached. He would not be more specific and his personal cell phone records are not public. Sanford's office released nearly 600 pages of e-mail and state phone records Monday under a public records request. The files show Chief of Staff Scott English called Sanford's state and personal cell phones 14 times between June 19 and June 22.

The Governor's Office has also released 600 pages of email and phone records some of which were printed in The State newspaper Tuesday. At least one SC Senate Democrat is now calling for full disclosure. Below is a release sent from Sen. John C. Land.

For Immediate Release
July 14, 2009

SC Senate Democratic Leader Calls for Full Disclosure After Revelation That Sanford Skipped Multiple Economic Development Meetings to Visit Mistress in Argentina

Columbia, SC – South Carolina Senate Democratic Leader John C. Land, III (D-Manning) issued the following statement today in response to the revelations that Governor Mark Sanford turned down multiple invitations to attend meetings with companies looking to create jobs in South Carolina.

Sanford declined to attend the meetings so he could visit his mistress in Argentina.

Governor Mark Sanford’s economic development efforts have been generally criticized, and he has been responsible for a jobless rate of over 12% since he took office.

Also noteworthy is that the Governor’s office turned down these meetings because they claimed the Governor’s schedule was “just absolutely jammed this summer.” In fact, he had planned to spend ten days in Argentina. Moreover, since returning to South Carolina and pledging to focus on his job, his public schedule has been largely blank.

“When Mark Sanford ran off to Argentina, he missed two critical job creation meetings. Mark Sanford placed a higher value on his personal pleasure than bringing jobs to a state with a 12% jobless rate.”

“We need to investigate further and learn what other opportunities have been missed through the Governor’s selfishness.”

“When you’ve dragged your state into the one of the nation’s highest jobless rates, you owe it to the people who elected you to spend night and day chasing down any company that wants to create jobs.”

“Governor Sanford’s economic development philosophy has always been hands-off. Now he owes it to us all, critics and supporters alike, to come clean about other missed opportunities to create jobs. Only then can we begin the long and slow process of clawing back from the one of the nation’s worst jobless rates.”

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From The State Newspaper.
July 14, 2009
Sanford’s office couldn't locate missing governor
-- The governor allowed some economic development initiatives to take a back seat during his secret trip. Sanford was invited to — but turned down — a dinner invitation June 24 with representatives from a company looking to expand its S.C. operation, according to e-mail records. The company’s name was redacted. Sanford also declined a June 25 celebration event for a plant expansion by a S.C. business because his schedule was “just absolutely jammed this summer,” wrote a staffer in an e-mail.