SC House Speaker Calls for Sanford Resignation

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - South Carolina House Speaker Bobby Harrell
says he wants Gov. Mark Sanford to resign.
    Harrell on Tuesday sent the governor a letter asking him to step
down from office because of “constant distractions” Sanford has
brought.
    Harrell is the latest high-ranking Republican to ask for Sanford
to leave office since the revelation of his yearlong affair. Lt.
Gov. Andre Bauer also has called for him to resign.
    Pressure for Sanford to leave office or be impeached has
increased since June when he lied to his staff about vacation plans
and returned from a rendezvous with his Argentine lover.
    Subsequent Associated Press investigations of his travel on
commercial airline and state and private planes have led to an
ongoing State Ethics Commission investigation.
Sanford took questions from callers Tuesday night during an appearance on WVOC-AM radio in Columbia and he also responded to Harrell’s request.
The governor said it was all “politics” and Harrell’s letter was premature. Sanford said repeatedly he will not quit or be forced out of office.
Sanford said, “Their been eight governors impeached in the history of this nation and they’ve been for really, fairly heinous things in terms of taking money out of the general fund of the state and going out and purchasing properties. I mean big, hundreds of thousands of dollars. And so I would say there’s certainly a world of difference what has happened in those instances and what has happened here”.
Sanford is scheduled to be in the Upstate Thursday to speak to a rotary club in Anderson at a restaurant that is about to close because of slow business.
the governor’s staff said Sanford will discuss ways to work with the legislature on job creation, re-structuring state government, and spending caps.

The AP contributed to this report.