Ethics Commission: Sanford Guilty Of “Premature Obfuscation”

S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford may be an inspired lover – he’s certainly an inspired e-mailer – but when it comes to trying to block the release of a preliminary State Ethics Commission report he appears to have a case of “premature obfuscation.”

At least that’s the argument being made by the Commission in a brief filed Monday with the S.C. Supreme Court.

Sanford vowed to let the Commission – whose members he appoints – conduct its investigation publicly, but last week he changed his tune and sued to block the release of a preliminary report to the S.C. General Assembly, and by extension the public.

The Commission responded by calling Sanford’s obfuscation “speculative and conjectural,” while pointing out that House members could simply subpoena their findings at any point during an impeachment process.  Additionally, the Commission claimed that Sanford jumped the gun in requesting the Supreme Court to rule on the matter.

Sanford’s attorneys have until noon on Tuesday to respond to those arguments.

Meanwhile, S.C. House Speaker Bobby Harrell – a bit of a late bloomer in the legislative push to remove Sanford from office – took steps to secure access to the preliminary ethics report.  Harrell accused Sanford of “breaking his promise to keep this process transparent,” and for once, we have to agree with the Speaker.

The governor created a presumption of openness and accountability with respect to this whole process, but he’s decided instead to act like a typical politician with something to hide.

In fact – as we noted last week – how bizarre is it that “Mr. Transparency” and “Mr. Frugality” is essentially trying to keep the public in the dark about his possible misuse(s) of taxpayer funds?

Like the scandal that spawned this sorry soap opera, we never thought we’d see that day come …

To recap – earlier this summer, Sanford admitted to having an extramarital affair with his Latin lover, Maria Belen Chapur, an acknowledgment which has prompted intense scrutiny of all aspects of his administration.  Examinations of the governor’s travel, in particular, have yielded a number of abuses – beginning with a 2008 trip to Argentina that appears to have been arranged entirely for the purpose of permitting Sanford to see his lover.

Sanford refunded taxpayers for his expenses related to that trip (a year after the fact), but he has not reimbursed taxpayers for the time and resources that went into setting it up.

Additionally, Sanford has received first-class plane ticket upgrades in violation of state policy, misused the state plane for personal and political reasons and failed to report numerous airplane flights that were provided to him by friends and political allies.  Most recently, it has been alleged that Sanford’s failure to report some of the flights provided to him could expose him to a tax liability.

Sanford has denied any wrongdoing and fended off literally dozens of calls for his resignation from Republicans, RINOs and Democrats alike.

In fact, until his inexplicable legal maneuverings began fanning the flames once again, it appeared that “impeachment fever” in Columbia was beginning to cool with the coming of fall.

Whatever happens to him, the governor has never been weaker politically.  In fact, FITS has also seen polling data from numerous sources indicating that Sanford’s negatives are at record highs among all demographic groups, including his bread-and-butter constituency of white males.

The governor’s support from female voters has literally cratered.