(June 24, 2009 - Photo by Davis Turner/Getty Images North America)
Disgraced South Carolina Governor and former GOP presidential hopeful Mark Sanford dodged a bullet today as a panel of lawmakers voted for censure rather than impeachment for his summer vacation and romp with his “soulmate” in Argentina. For the governor who’s term doesn’t end until 2011, this was a big step toward putting the whole disaster behind him – if you can really ever put something like this behind you that is. I mean come on, his wife is set to appear tonight on Barbara Walters Most Fascinating People special.
Delleney said he will try to convince Judiciary committee members to vote in favor next week, but was not optimistic.
“It will be difficult, but I’m not giving up,” Delleney said. “This is a political process. The political will is just not there. I’m prepared to accept the consequences.”
A tearful Jenny Horne, R-Dorchester, indicated she would not vote in favor of the resolution, the fourth panelist who said prior to the vote they would not support the impeachment resolution.
Horne said she would not support the resolution, arguing Sanford’s actions did not rise to the level of impeachment.
Earlier in the meeting, Reps. Garry Smith, R-Greenville, David Weeks, D-Sumter and Walt McLeod, D-Newberry spoke out against the impeachment resolution.
Weeks, McLeod and Horne are all attorneys. Each argued the bar for impeachment is too high for what Sanford is accused of.
Technically, the outcome of Wednesday’s vote will be sent as a recommendation to a full House Judiciary panel, which could revive an impeachment effort. However, that is unlikely given the margin of the vote.
Sanford also is the subject of a State Ethics Commission hearing on more than three dozen civil charges involving his use of state planes, pricey commercial airlines seats and campaign money. The state attorney general is considering whether those accusations will lead to criminal charges.
The lawmakers have honed in on Sanford’s trip to Argentina in June, debating how seriously to consider the governor’s five-day absence during which his staff was led to believe he was hiking the Appalachian Trail. Legislators pushing for impeachment sought to punish Sanford for bringing “extreme dishonor and shame” and contended he was derelict in his duty.
“We have a governor forsaking, abandoning, deserting his office. We have a premeditated, intentional act where he abandoned his office in the state,” said state Rep. Greg Delleney, a Republican who was the lone vote for impeachment. “He has lost all moral authority to lead this state.”
[...] when he sees a State Trooper. From potential GOP Presidential nominee to end of the year impeachment proceedings, I’d say that was a pretty bad swing. September 30, 2008 – Photo by Steve [...]