“Blackhawk Down” Starring … Mark Sanford?
S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford will not be fast-roping into a war zone in Mogadishu, Somalia anytime soon … although he does have his Air Force Reserve duty this weekend (ba-doom-ching).
And while the governor probably won’t be hitching a ride to his training on a Blackhawk helicopter, he did get a lift on one of the $6 million birds back in January of 2007 – a trip that is now raising some questions given the governor’s co-mingling of personal and political trips with “official business.”
On Saturday, January 6, 2007, the governor attended a one-hour ceremony in Columbia, S.C. to observe the deployment of a brigade of S.C. National Guard soldiers to Afghanistan. He spoke for three minutes at the event, and presented a state flag that had been provided to him.
Of course, what wasn’t widely-known at the time is that the governor was flown to and from the event in a Blackhawk helicopter – travel that was made necessary because he was spending the weekend in Georgia attending a right-wing religious conference.
Hmmmm …
Gov. Sanford was attending the 2007 Awakening Conference at the Cloister resort in Sea Island, Georgia at the time of the ceremony, but thanks to the use of the Blackhawk he hardly missed any of it.
In fact, Sanford landed in Georgia just in time to listen to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney address the conference.
The Awakening website describes the event as one of “the finest open forum weekends on conservative principles and thought in the United States. Participants discover what the most intuitive and insightful minds in our country believe is on the horizon for the country politically, economically and philosophically through interaction in the group discussions.”
Sources close to the governor say that use of the Blackhawk was offered to them and that Sanford’s presence at the deployment ceremony was insisted upon by the S.C. National Guard.
Even so, spending that much money so that Sanford wouldn’t miss a Mitt Romney speech seems a little excessive if you ask us.
WEB EXTRA
Sanford’s Public Schedule (with Blackhawk Trip)
Comments
By Jim on August 11th, 2009 at 8:36 am
Rumor has it that the Awakening conference has the best call girls in the nation attending to each participant’s needs.
By anonymous on August 11th, 2009 at 8:46 am
GOP senator wants Sanford to be impeached
(CNN) — South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford should be impeached for abusing state finances, a Republican state senator said Monday.
A Republican senator in South Carolina says Gov. Mark Sanford should be impeached over financial violations.
Sen. David Thomas, in a letter to leaders of the constitutional/administrative subcommittee of the South Carolina Senate Finance Committee, accused his fellow Republican of violating state regulations.
The allegations involve flights he took to London, England, and China in 2006 and 2007 on state business. South Carolina requires the governor to charge the state the lowest rate available unless there are overriding circumstances, such as emergency travel.
“The two flights by Gov. Sanford were in violation of the South Carolina Code of Regulations,” Thomas said in his letter. “The difference in price between the most economical and the more expensive price of the seats the governor chose is approximately $13,700.”
Thomas said he thought the violations were enough to trigger impeachment proceedings.
Thomas urged Sanford to resign after he admitted his affair.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/08/11/south.carolina.mark.sanford/
By Gina on August 11th, 2009 at 9:09 am
Hey, did ya see one of the topics to be addressed at the next “Awakening”?
Latin America—Improving U.S. Relations and our Future Strategy
Maybe Mark will be the keynote speaker…..
By CNSYD on August 11th, 2009 at 9:54 am
I would be the last one to ever defend Sanfraud but I think you will find that the US military looks for any excuse to fly as they have to have so many flight hours a month in order to get “flight pay”.
By Eric on August 11th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Somewhere there is a happy medium in all this nonsense. I expect my governor to have a life and not be tethered to Columbia 24/7 because out-of-pocket costs of commercial travel are steep. In my opinion, a governor’s time is far too valuable to be spent waiting in a TSA line. As an agnostic Democrat, I do not begrudge a Blackhawk ride to attend a National Guard deployment ceremony – even if the other end of the trip was the Awakenings Conference!
By ethel krabitz on August 11th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
i think the guys in the barracks ought to give him the FULL METAL JACKET treatment this weekend!
By scooter on August 11th, 2009 at 9:57 pm
A friend of mine was so impressed that Sanford attended a ceremony (this one?) and spoke for a few minutes. He had served this country in the first war, and is still in the National Guard. I nearly gagged when he told me how pleased he was with what the Gov. did. Wonder what he thinks now? I have not asked him, yet. But he is a good, Christian man, so he may not be as upset as I am.