Records: Gov did not use state phone while on trip

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — As South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford’s staffers publicly downplayed his disappearance, they tried to reach him more than a dozen times on his state and personal cell phones, according to records made public Monday.

Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer fielded dozens of media requests after the governor could not be located last month. He first released statements saying Sanford was taking a break after a long legislative session and then to say he was hiking on the Appalachian Trail. All along, the governor never made a call using his state-issued cell phone.

The governor has said he misled his staff into thinking he was hiking and never corrected that impression during a six-day trip to visit his mistress in Argentina. Sanford and wife Jenny say they are trying to reconcile and the two-term Republican has said he does not intend to resign.

Sanford’s critics have assailed him in part for appearing to be out of contact with his staff while he was in Argentina with the woman he’s called his “soul mate.“ The phone records don’t prove that Sanford was in touch, but they only reflect calls he made or received on his state-issued phone, not his personal cell phone.

“It confirms what we had long suspected and everybody speculated: that he had no contact at all with his office and they didn’t know how to reach him, although his office was left to put out that story that they knew how to reach him,“ said state Sen. Larry Martin, R-Pickens, who has called for Sanford to resign.

The documents, released under a public records request, show 14 calls to Sanford’s personal and state-issued cell phones from Chief of Staff Scott English between June 19 and June 22, the day reporters started asking for the governor’s whereabouts.

They also show that Sanford’s state-issued cell phone made no calls from June 18, when he departed from Atlanta to Argentina, until June 25, a day after his tearful public confession of his affair with Maria Belen Chapur.

It was against that backdrop that Sanford’s staff scrambled to downplay Sanford’s departure as they dealt with calls from news organizations around the nation. Within hours of The Associated Press reporting the first lady didn’t know where her husband and the father of her four sons was over Father’s Day weekend, even U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham’s spokesman was offering help during an upcoming television appearance.

“Anything you suggest we say or any talking points for us to use,“ Graham spokesman Kevin Bishop asked Sawyer two hours after the story broke.

“First lady talked to Lindey (sic) ... just kick to me if any press calls,“ Sawyer responded.

Minutes later, he sent Bishop the same media statement: The governor was unwinding after a tough legislative session.

State Rep. Nathan Ballentine, a Lexington Republican and Sanford supporter, sent an e-mail saying he’d be attending a question-and answer-session with state Sen. Jake Knotts, the West Columbia Republican who first questioned where the governor had gone.

Ballentine said Knotts will “sure make issue with it.“

“Pop him back if you can,“ Sawyer responded.

Sanford’s staffers now says they had no idea of the governor’s real location. On June 23, English sent an e-mail to Republican Governors Association’s executive director Nick Ayers. “I spoke to the boss. He’s safe and sound, as we expected. He will be back in the office tomorrow,“ English wrote.

Sawyer sent an e-mail to reporters an hour later, saying Sanford “called to check in with his chief of staff this morning. It would be fair to say the governor was somewhat taken aback by all of the interest this trip has gotten.“

Sanford has not explained how he could be reached by his office.

Over more than three hours of emotional interviews with The Associated Press, Sanford wouldn’t elaborate beyond saying he was reachable through “a back channel way” by an adviser. He said neither Sawyer nor English was that person.

Martin said Sanford needs to explain who the person was. “Why leave that remotely undocumented or challenged when it would be easy to produce that person,“ Martin said. “You lose your credibility about the whole issue and the governor’s credibility is already pretty much in the cellar.“

Sanford told AP that he “was reached” the Monday before he returned and called English back the next morning. “I was contacted Monday evening, called back for a second Tuesday morning, changed my flight to come back that night,“ he said.

Sawyer on Monday said he was not aware of any calls made during that period from the governor’s personal cell phone, but declined to elaborate on how Sanford would have been able to stay in touch.

Sanford said he originally planned to stay in Argentina until the following Sunday but changed his flight to return Tuesday after learning of the flap back home. The governor said he had already rescheduled once before, to return Wednesday, because he had realized that Maria Belen Chapur was “the love of his life.“

“Once I got down there I knew the answer to my question,“ he told the AP. “I didn’t have to stay.“