By fitsnews – December 3, 2009
All but nine of the thirty-seven ethics violations against S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford have been dismissed by a legislative panel investigating whether or not the second-term Republican governor broke the law relating to travel expenses and campaign reimbursements.
It was a victory for the disgraced chief executive, but he’s not completely out of the woods just yet.
Sanford still stands accused of using taxpayer resources to facilitate an affair with his Latin lover, Maria Belen Chapur, although that issue has not been taken up yet by lawmakers – or the S.C. State Ethics Commission.
An impeachment resolution drafted by S.C. Rep. Greg Delleney also accuses Sanford of neglecting his official duties for five days and lying to the state about his whereabouts.
Still, Sanford will no longer have to answer charges that he used state airplanes for personal and political business, or that he improperly reimbursed himself for costly airline seats – at least not within the context of those being impeachable offenses.
The S.C. House impeachment subcommittee investigating those charges tossed them after Sanford’s lawyers argued that none of the offenses rose to the level of impeachment.
The committee will meet again Monday to continue its deliberations into the remaining charges.
Meanwhile, FITS has just been informed of some breaking developments related to one of the many investigations currently underway into Sanford’s various alleged offenses.
We’ll have a report on those developments soon …
