Judicial Subcommittee Debates Sanford Impeachment

The House Judiciary Committee adjourned Tuesday after reading through affidavits from the Governor Sanford’s Chief of Staff, the Lt. Governor and SLED director Reggie Lloyd.  All talked about the fact that they didn’t know where the governor was when he was in Argentina with his admitted lover.

Seven members of the committee must decide whether to move forward with an impeachment

The next meeting is December 1, then December 3 and after that December 7.  At the Dec. 1 meeting they will talk about the ethics charges surrounding the Governor’s use of state planes. The meeting on the 3rd will be about his reimbursements from campaign cash and his flying first class or business class. The 7th would be the final subcommittee meeting, unless they need to meet again on the 9th.

A resolution introduced would remove the Republican governor from office before his second and final term expires in 2011. 

Tuesday Governor Mark Sanford’s Attorney Butch Bowers released this statement:

“We have and will continue to cooperate with the Committee’s questions on this matter going forward. As such, yesterday we provided Speaker Harrell and Chairman Harrison the Ethics Commission’s investigative report in its entirety, and also made it available publicly online (http://governorsanford.com/e-docs.html). We look forward to working with the House as we move forward with this process, and we are confident that once the full story is heard this Administration will be shown to have been good stewards for the taxpayers of South Carolina.“

“Specifically, in next week’s Committee hearings on air travel, it’s important to note that nearly half the Ethics Commissions’ findings dealt with upgrades to business class on overseas economic development flights. Yet this has been the long-standing and Legislative Audit Council approved behavior of past governors, Commerce Department staff and even legislators for the last 30 years.”

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford faces 37 charges he broke state laws limiting official use of airplanes and campaign money.

The details were released Monday by the State Ethics Commission. Click Here to read report

They came five days after the panel charged the governor without offering any specifics.

Sanford’s lawyers have claimed the charges involve minor and technical aspects of the law.

The charges followed a probe into whether Sanford used state aircraft for personal and political trips, used pricey airline seats despite low-cost travel requirements and reimbursed himself with campaign cash.

Sanford has been under scrutiny since he vanished for five days over the summer, reappearing to tearfully admit to an extramarital affair with a woman he later called his “soul mate.“

Sanford’s attorney, Butch Bowers released the following statement:

“As we indicated last week, today’s notice of hearing confirms that the Ethics Commission seeks additional information regarding about three dozen technical questions from the Governor’s previous filings. We are confident that we will be able to address each of these questions, none of which constitutes findings of guilt and none of which we believe rise anywhere near to the traditional standard of impeachment, now that we finally have an opportunity to present our side of the story. We look forward to working with the Commission and resolving this matter. Moreover, we look forward to cooperating with the General Assembly as we proceed, and in that light we will provide a copy of the Commission’s investigative report in its entirety to the Speaker of the House later today.“

Attorney and USC professor Jay Bender said, “The governor has attempted to characterize these as minor violations. I don’t see how you could consider them minor at all. One time yes. All these other times? No… I think the campaign funds to go to the Republican Governors Association would be legitimate. I don’t see how it’s a campaign event to go hunting in Ireland. That seems to me to be enriching yourself off of your campaign funds, and that’s clearly illegal.“