Pee Dee lawmakers: Sanford's effectiveness lost

Reaction from Pee Dee lawmakers as to whether Mark Sanford should resign as governor in the wake of the scandal over his five-day disappearance and affair with an Argentinean woman is mixed.

State Sen. John Land of Manning, whose district includes Olanta, said he isn’t calling for Sanford’s resignation.

“I think that’s a decision (Sanford) has to make on his own,” he said Thursday.

State Rep. Kris Crawford, a Republican from Florence, agreed.

“I think Mark Sanford should not resign. South Carolina has big problems right now in double-digit unemployment, a shrinking budget, economic times that are worse than a lot of the rest of the nation, frankly, and in a national crisis that hasn’t been seen since the Great Depression,” Crawford said. “... the last thing we should distract ourselves with is a change in administration, a change in power.”

Crawford said he doesn’t thing taxpayers’ fund were used by the govnernor for this trip to Argentina.

“Beyond the state SUV being driven to Atlanta, if the state paid for plane tickets for a personal trip to Argentina, I think then you’d have to re-evaluate where you’re at,” Crawford said. “I’m pretty sure that I know that didn't happen, so I’m not particularly concerned about that coming out...

“Of course, I wasn’t concerned about any of this being true two days ago either, so I suppose we’ll just have to watch the events unfold.”

State Sen. Dick Elliott, D-North Myrtle Beach, said the matter of Sanford’s infidelity is between the governor, his wife and his family.

Sanford’s actions as they relate to leadership ability, however, are a matter of concern for all South Carolinians, Elliott said, especially Sanford’s capability for sitting down with industry leaders in an effort to bring new jobs to the state.

“Jobs are the critical issue in the state,” Elliott said.

“I’m sure Gov. Sanford understands the seriousness of our state needing jobs and, as a man who loves his state, I feel he’ll do the right thing” in deciding whether to resign, Elliott said.

Land, a Democrat, also thinks it’s for the Republican Party to decide whether the governor should continue being the “standard-bearer” for the party, he said.

He thinks, however, Sanford has lost his effectiveness as governor “even before this tragedy in his private life,” he said.

“You just look back on his record of working with the General Assembly, and it has gone from bad to very bad,” he said.

Land said Sanford made himself “irrelevant” by staying on the side and causing “havoc” over the state’s federal stimulus funding.

Now, the governor has lost his effectiveness “especially after the revelation of this escapade in Argentina,” Land said.

Two state lawmakers from Darlington County concurred.

State Rep. Jay Lucas, R-Hartsville, described Sanford’s press conference Wednesday afternoon as “bizarre.”

“That’s the only word that comes to mind,” he said.

And state Sen. Gerald Malloy, D-Hartsville, used that same word to characterize Sanford’s conduct leading up to his revelation.

“On the personal side, our thoughts and prayers go out to his wife and family,” Malloy said. “At this point, I’m waiting to hear the rest of the story.”

“As I watched (Sanford’s press conference), my first thoughts were with the first lady and the governor’s children,” Lucas said. “They’re really great kids, well mannered, very thoughtful, and you really don’t want to see them have to go through anything like this.”

Malloy said it’s not his call as to whether Sanford should resign.

“I don’t think we can make that decision,” Malloy said. “Again, I think that the entire matter is, I don’t want to speak to his personal side, that’s really not of my business. What I speak to is the fact that we had a governor that was gone for five days... and going for five days is the issue, with no one in charge.

“I just think that what you’ve got now is an individual who is at a crossroads with his family and those are some hard decisions that they are trying to end up making.”

Both Malloy and Lucas called the governor’s conduct an embarrassment to the state.

“My initial reaction is, here we go again with the state of South Carolina again the focus of the nation for something that is not good,” Malloy said.

“This is a time in our state when we need to be working on jobs for our unemployed, working on our economic development issues, providing a good education for our people, providing health care for all and keeping our citizens safe, and this diverts attention away from all of that,” he said.

“There’s no question that it’s a black eye for our state, and we’re just going to have to try to recover as best we can,” Lucas said.

“On the issues on which he has been most effective, restructuring for example, issues where he has shown some leadership, I think he has lost his effectiveness,” he said. “As to whether he should resign, that’s something he’s going to have to decide. But I truly think he has lost his effectiveness on the issues where he’s been most effective.”

Malloy said Sanford was ineffective as governor before this episode and said a resignation now would make little difference.

“My sense of his effectiveness as governor is one of failed leadership, an inability or unwillingness to compromise,” Malloy said.

“There was no leadership to begin with. He was not effective before he left, and he’s not effective after he’s come back. His status as governor is not of essence to this state,” he said. “He demonstrated that he could run against the Legislature and win. But the focus of the job should be on finding solutions to our problems.

“This state is yearning for leadership.”

Malloy also called Sanford’s mysterious disappearance irresponsible.

“He put his staff, his family and other folks, the lieutenant governor in a bad position by leaving with them not knowing where he was,” he said.

“He was derelict in his responsibilities as governor. He left without telling anyone where he was going. That’s the thing we need to be responding to.”

“I’m very saddened by the whole affair,” is all Branham would say.

State Rep. Robert Williams, D-Darlington, also had little to say about the governor’s disclosure.

“I’m just kind of disappointed in him and his behavior,” Williams said. “I hope his family will be protected so that they can move on with their lives. I’m just very disappointed.”

State Sen. Hugh Leatherman of Florence said Sanford’s press conference raised more questions than it answered

“... I think it’s really sad to me it just shows that whatever integrity he had, is gone,” Leatherman said Wednesday.

Leatherman also said he’s confident the state will recover from the scandal.

“The people of South Carolina are resilient people,” he said. “They’ll come together, our state will continue to move forward — even without the leadership of Governor Sanford. And this to me proves that there is no leadership there.”

— Lake City News & Post Editor Charles Tomlinson, Marion Star & Mullins Enterprise Editor Dianne P. Owens, The (Hartsville) Messenger’s Jim Faile and WBTW News13’s Patricia Burkett contributed to this report.