Sanford wants to report previously unrecorded flights

COLUMBIA — One day after the State Ethics Commission announced it’s moving forward with ethics charges against Gov. Mark Sanford, the governor said he wants to amend his ethics disclosure form to report private plane flights he had not reported before.

Ethics Commission executive director Herb Hayden said the governor asked Thursday to report the previously unreported flights.

The commission hasn’t released the details of the allegations it’s pursuing against Sanford, but we know it’s been investigating four areas: the governor’s use of state aircraft and whether he used them for family and personal reasons; his acceptance of private plane flights from friends and donors without reporting them on his ethics disclosure forms; his flying in business class on commercial flights taken on state business, when state law requires the use of the cheapest seats available; and his unexplained reimbursement to himself of more than $1,800 from his campaign account.

Butch Bowers, Sanford’s attorney, released a written statement Wednesday night saying, “We feel vindicated that the Ethics Commission’s finding of probable cause is limited to minor, technical matters that do not include any allegations of criminal conduct.”

But media attorney and open government expert Jay Bender disagreed, saying “I think it’s unlikely that we’re talking about really minor violations. Did you take a plane ride and not report it? Well, the failure to report that is not a minor violation, and if that’s the probable cause, that seems hardly minor to me.”

On Thursday, Bowers issued another written statement on behalf of the governor, saying, “The Ethics Commission reviewed 772 flights taken by Gov. Sanford, and no questions were raised regarding 97 percent of these flights. Similarly, the Commission examined 622 of the governor’s campaign expenditures, and 98 percent of them were found to be in complete compliance with the law.

“We will continue to work with the Commission, and we look forward to the opportunity to finally present our arguments and evidence to the Commission to address the few remaining questions they have. The results of the Commission’s exhaustive investigation confirm what we have said all along — that Gov. Sanford has been a good steward of public resources and has worked hard to ensure his administration adheres to both the letter and the spirit of the law. In the meantime, in a good faith effort to move forward, Gov. Sanford has decided to provide a copy of the Commission’s investigative report to Speaker (of the House Bobby) Harrell next week following the Commission’s release of its notice of hearing.”

But Harrell criticized the governor Thursday for not releasing the investigative report before next week.

In a written statement, Harrell said, “We are disappointed that Gov. Sanford has broken his transparency promise by keeping this court-ordered public document secret. After claiming to be a leader in the transparency movement and heavily criticizing others on this issue, the governor’s insistence on secrecy goes against all his past actions on this issue.”

There’s disagreement on when the Ethics Commission’s investigative report can and should be released to the public. The commission gave a copy of the report to the governor’s attorney Wednesday night.

“If there is a waiver, once the document is released to the governor, it seems to me it has to be released to the public,” Bender said.

Ethics Commission proceedings are secret unless the subject waives confidentiality, which the state Supreme Court ruled Sanford did.

The Ethics Commission said it will release details about the allegations against the governor Monday, when it publishes a notice of hearing in the case. The first hearing will be sometime in January.

During that hearing, three of the commissioners will hear the governor and the Ethics Commission’s lawyer present evidence and call witnesses. If those three commissioners decide Sanford broke the law, he can appeal to the full nine-member commission.

It will be up to Sanford to decide whether the hearing will be held in public.