KINGSTREE—Gov. Mark Sanford stood by claims made in recent weeks that the time has come for South Carolina to “move forward” with its matters of government and that he is willing to make the final fifteen-months of his administrative productive ones.
“In an odd sort of way, I think there’s genuine opportunity for all of us as South Carolinians if we can take the political energy and do something with it,” Sanford said during a gathering of the Kingstree Rotary Club at Brown’s Barbeque on SC-51 north of Kingstree.
Following his talk with rotary members, the governor contented that despite calls from political leaders—recently from within his own party— for his resignation, he has found support at the grassroots level.
“What I find—and I find this consistently—is that there’s and amazing disconnect between people at a grass roots level, working people, and people who are in politics and the media,” Sanford said. “What I find is that there is this amazing capacity for forgiveness and grace at the individual level. People say, ‘Look, you messed up. You’ve got fifteen months left… I don’t want to talk to much about your mess up as I do about what you can do to make my life better for the next 15 months.”
The governor said political ambitions of others have taken focus away from solving problems currently facing the state and its citizens, particularly when it comes to the economy and the structure of state government.
“I wouldn’t still be standing here if it weren’t for the people saying what they say to me,” he said. “Which is ‘Hang in there.’ And its something I hear not a hundred percent—politics is not a process of a hundred percent—but hear that in an overwhelming fashion.”
Sanford went on to say citizens have told him they do not approve of his actions involving the affair with his Argentinean mistress, but that “we all make mistakes” and the time has come to move forward.
Part of that process of moving forward include changes to the political system in South Carolina, particularly problems the governor sees with the state’s budget control board and spending issues. Sanford said he plans to work on moving the board under the control of the governor’s office to help curb the cost of what he said is “a very expensive form of government.”
Other issues discussed with the Kingstree Rotary included other matters of economy, education, and the option of having a governor and lieutenant governor run on the same ticket at election time. Sanford said he plans to work on these and other issues during his last fifteen-months in office.
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