WIS News 10 - Columbia, South Carolina | Top state GOP official asks for Sanford's resignation

Top state GOP official asks for Sanford's resignation

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - A top state GOP official says he's asking for Gov. Mark Sanford to resign after the governor admitted to having an affair with a woman from Argentina.

Glenn McCall is one of the state's two national representatives to the Republican National Committee. He's also a county party chairman and said Thursday that party members want Sanford out.

McCall says Sanford repeatedly has said party leaders should be held accountable for not upholding the GOP's principles. And McCall says the married father of four should be held to the same standard.

An Argentina newspaper is reporting her name is María Belén Chapur, a 43-year-old from Buenos Aires. The newspaper says the woman is divorced and has two children.

In a news conference Wednesday, Sanford didn't mention the woman by name, only calling her a dear friend.

As for the governor, his office says he's with his family on Sullivan's Island and plans to speak to other state leaders on Thursday.

Wednesday's dramatic press conference put an end to days of speculation on his whereabouts after Sanford disappeared on a mystery trip on Thursday.

The governor's 2pm press conference began with apologies to his staff and family for his actions in the past several days.

Then, the news came forward.

"The bottom line is this: I've been unfaithful to my wife. I have developed a relationship with what started as a dear, dear friend from Argentina. It began very innocently, as I suspect many of these things do, in just a casual email back and forth in advice in one's life there and advice here, but here recently over this past year that developed into something much more than that. And as a consequence, it hurt her, I hurt you all, I hurt my wife, I hurt my boys. I hurt friends like Tom Davis. I hurt a lot of different folks and all I can say is I apologize," said Sanford.

Sanford says he met the woman about eight years ago and it became romantic about a year ago.

"I've spent the last five days crying in Argentina," said Sanford.

As a consequence for his actions, the governor announced his decision to resign as chairman of the Republican Governor's Association. He did not answer questions on whether or not he would resign from his post as governor.

An article in Thursday morning's edition of The State unveiled email transcripts between Sanford and the woman. [Read the emails at The State]

In the emails, the two reveal very intimate feelings for each other.

From Gov. Sanford,

Date: Thursday, July 10, 2008, 12:24 a.m.

You have a particular grace and calm that I adore. You have a level of sophistication that so fitting with your beauty.

I certainly had a special feeling about you from the first time we met, but these feelings were contained and I genuinely enjoyed our special friendship

From Maria,

Wednesday, July 9, 2008 8:14 p.m.

You are my love ... something hard to believe even for myself as it's also a kind of impossible love, not only because of distance but situation.

The governor's office has not disputed the authenticity of the emails.

The State newspaper's John O'Connor says he received the emails anonymously and that they came from the governor's personal email account.

In the article, it is revealed that the paper had the emails since last December, but weren't able to vouch for their authenticity until this week.

"We worked to try and find out what we could find out, but when we have information that we don't know that's true, we don't want to go present that to the governor's office and say, 'How do you respond to this?' because if we have no evidence and they know we have no evidence, then we have no story," said O'Connor.

O'Connor says the emails did help clue them in to the right direction.

"It helped clue us into the Atlanta airport this morning to be waiting for the governor to come back on a flight from Argentina. With all the information we gathered, we've had some other information come in that we gathered from some of the emails, we put it all together and finally this week we felt strongly on the emails," said O'Connor on Wednesday.

Attention has turned from the governor to his wife. A statement from First Lady Jenny Sanford says the two have been under a "trial separation" for about two weeks now. [Read Jenny Sanford's statement here]

"This trial separation was agreed to with the goal of ultimately strengthening our marriage. During this short separation it was agreed that Mark would not contact us. I kept this separation quiet out of respect of his public office and reputation, and in hopes of keeping our children from just this type of public exposure. Because of this separation, I did not know where he was in the past week," said Mrs. Sanford.

The first lady has asked for privacy from the media during this time.

Speculation began after Jenny told the Associated Press on Monday she had not spoken with her husband for several days, including Father's Day.

Originally, it was believed Sanford took a hike on the Appalachian Trail. But Wednesday morning, Sanford told a reporter with the State newspaper at the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta that he was returning from a seven day visit to Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Sanford said he had not been hiking along the Appalachian Trail, as his staff said in a Tuesday statement to the media.

Videos from the Columbia Metropolitan Airport obtained by the Associated Press show him walking inside the airport, standing on a moving sidewalk and then approaching a boarding counter there last Thursday. He is alone.

Time stamps on the video indicate Sanford could have boarded a commercial flight to Atlanta in time for a departure on an 8:35pm flight to Buenos Aires, though it's not clear if that's the flight he took.

Now, the question has quickly turned into what lies ahead for the governor's political future. Sanford's name has been tossed around over the past several months as a potential contender for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.

Public opinion has also shifted toward the governor to resign. The results of a WCSC/SurveyUSA poll say 60 percent of 500 adults who responded wish the governor would resign, 34 percent say he should remain in office and 5 percent aren't sure.

State lawmakers and politicos have also taken time to give their thoughts on Sanford's admission.

"But again, he's got a wife, he's got kids who he put all over billboards in South Carolina, he talked about leadership. Everything he's talked about up to this point seems to be a lie. So for him to continue on as governor at this point seems useless," said Rep. Todd Rutherford.

"He didn't try to hide it. He didn't try to deny it. he stood up and said, yeah I did this. I apologize to the people of South Carolina. I apologize to my family and that goes a long way in the healing process," said Mike Campbell, a Republican political strategist.

State GOP Chairwoman Karen Floyd said the situation was "sad."

"On the personal front, today's news is neither a Republican nor Democrat issue.  It is sad that any family suffers like this, particularly when it is played out on a public stage," said Floyd.

State House of Representatives Speaker Bobby Harrell called the events of the past several days "disturbing and shocking."

Republican gubernatorial candidate and Sanford ally Rep. Nikki Haley said the governor had "fallen short" in his behavior.

Lt. Gov Andre Bauer said he wasn't angry, but just disappointed.

"I talked to his staff several times and was told that they couldn't reach him at first, then they had talked to him and he was hiking on the Appalachian Trail. And so I think there's a real disconnect here with his staff misleading people," said Bauer.

Back in 1998, Sanford, then a representative, shared his thoughts on President Bill Clinton staying in office after admitting to an affair with intern Monica Lewinsky.

In a Post and Courier article, he said, "A weakened Clinton clinging to office would be bad for the country. And what's bad for the country is bad for everyone, including Republicans. I don't know how that could be good for anybody, I don't think it's good to have anyone who's wounded that high in office."

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