South Carolina Governor Sanford - Should he resign?

Allen Farlow · 06-25-2009, 08:14 AM

The guy's a state governor, yet he takes off for five days to see his sweetie in Argentina (even though he's married and has children), misleads his staff into thinking he's hiking the Appalachian Trail when he's not even in the country, and then tries to apologize his way out of it.

Should he resign? I say he should. He's in a position of leadership and went awol for almost a week. He lied to his staff, lied to his wife and kids, and when you put it all together it adds up to a lack of responsibility and good judgement.

That doesn't make a very good governor.

Atom · 06-25-2009, 05:49 PM

If that's the worst he's done wrong then he probably should be canonized into political sainthood.

quentin123 · 06-26-2009, 02:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Atom

If that's the worst he's done wrong then he probably should be canonized into political sainthood.

you summed up my thoughts

Allen Farlow · 06-26-2009, 09:18 AM

Yeah, isn't that something? He'll probably get away with it. And his wife will stand by him, of course.

Sing along with me now: "Money, money, money, moooooney. Moooney!"

Politicians. Can't live with them, can't shoot them, what are we to do?

Atom · 06-26-2009, 09:28 AM

I never really could see what a politician's personal life has to do with their performance as a politician.

Allen Farlow · 06-26-2009, 06:11 PM

Atom, it's not that it's his personal life. It's the fact that he went awol for six days and wasn't running the state government. He wasn't working when he should have been plus he also lied to his staff about his whereabouts.

At his age and his position as governor, that's completely irresponsible behavior.

Atom · 06-26-2009, 06:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Allen Farlow

Atom, it's not that it's his personal life. It's the fact that he went awol for six days and wasn't running the state government. He wasn't working when he should have been plus he also lied to his staff about his whereabouts.

At his age and his position as governor, that's completely irresponsible behavior.

Oh I see, he was on the clock then. Yeah he probably should have done that on his own time.

**~kev~** · 06-26-2009, 06:54 PM

No, he should not resign. And why not? Because we are all human and we all make mistakes. So what if he ran off for a few days. With the stress political figures are put under, I can not blame him for taking off.

I heard rumors that a girlfriend was involved. So what again. Men will be men.

Atom · 06-26-2009, 07:24 PM

I really don't see that as a resignable offense either, but maybe he should go six days without pay.

**South** · 06-29-2009, 04:07 PM

If there's anything he should consider resigning for it's failing to follow protocol before leaving. It's really up to South Carolina. Sanford is a good man and the people of SC are by and large very good people. They'll forgive the personal transgression I think. If he broke policy, we'll just have to see how they feel about that.

His wife isn't standing by him because of money. She's brilliant, successful, and wealthy on her own. She's staying for exactly the reasons she's given. She's actually invited him to leave or stay as he wishes, but he's got to be the one to make the right choices.

I feel bad for everyone involved. Public eye or not, these kinds of things hurt so many more people than just those who caused it.

**Hades** · 06-29-2009, 04:41 PM

No, I don't think he should resign. Sometimes people expect too much from politicians.
A few months ago the president of Paraguay was found to have 2 unrecognized children, and you cannot imagine the amount of people in the street asking the guy to abandon the government.

I would request a politician to resign if the guy made fraud, stole money from the national treasury, or used his political influence on to damage others. But missing a few days from work (no matter for what reason) is forgivable.
It is true that our representatives must set examples to follow. But after all he is a man, he can make mistakes, he has feelings and a penis like any other man.

Brian · 06-29-2009, 05:19 PM

No, besides the fact that he's a moron. People make mistakes.

Allen Farlow · 06-30-2009, 08:34 AM

Interesting points, people. A lot more forgiving than I am. The way I see it, South Carolina was without leadership for almost a week, there was no transfer of power and he lied to his staff about his whereabouts, saying he was hiking the Trail when he wasn't even in North America.

Men will be men, huh? That's not an excuse.

If the man can't handle the stress of the job, he shouldn't be in that job. There's no reason he couldn't schedule some time off and then go play kissee with his girlfriend.

For the average guy, what you guys are saying might apply, but for a man in his position as governor (not to mention the Republican Party's Golden Boy for 2012), he has shown a remarkable lack of good judgment for someone in such a position.

And I'm not sure the people of South Carolina would be so forgiving. Most of those folks down there still get up in arms when they hear someone use the Lord's name in vain. How do you think they feel about adultery?

**Hades** · 06-30-2009, 08:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Allen Farlow

Men will be men, huh? That's not an excuse.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Allen Farlow

And I'm not sure the people of South Carolina would be so forgiving. Most of those folks down there still get up in arms when they hear someone use the Lord's name in vain. How do you think they feel about adultery?

Nobody said adultery was right, what has been said is that adultery and missing days from work is not enough to ask the guy to resign.

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Allen Farlow

South Carolina was without leadership for almost a week, there was no transfer of power...

That is not true, there is a lieutenant governor.

Quote:

Originally Posted by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governor_of_South_Carolina#Succession

If the governor resigns, dies, fails to qualify, cannot perform duties or is removed from office, then the lieutenant governor will become governor. During impeachment or when the governor is temporarily disabled or absent from office, then the lieutenant governor will have the powers of the governor. The current chain of succession is:

1-Lieutenant Governor - André Bauer - Republican
2-President Pro Tempore of the Senate - Glenn F. McConnell - Republican
3-Speaker of the House - Robert W. Harrell, Jr. - Republican

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Allen Farlow

For the average guy, what you guys are saying might apply, but for a man in his position as governor (not to mention the Republican Party's Golden Boy for 2012), he has shown a remarkable lack of good judgment for someone in such a position.

That is true, and people will surely take that into account next time they go to vote.

Allen Farlow · 06-30-2009, 09:16 AM

Hades, there was no transfer of power. Sanford still held the power, he left no one else the power to make decisions for the governor.

"...resigns, dies, fails to qualify, cannot perform duties or is removed from office,..."

Sanford did none of the above and power did not transfer to the Lieutenant Governor.

Far as anyone knew he was hiking the Appalachian Trail, was still within the United States, when he was anything but.

No, adultery today is not grounds for removal from office, but lack of correct judgment and leadership certainly is.

Cars-blog · 06-30-2009, 09:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Allen Farlow

Politicians. Can't live with them, can't shoot them, what are we to do?

Why can't we shoot them? Maybe they'll be more "accountable" then.

Allen Farlow · 06-30-2009, 10:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cars-blog

Why can't we shoot them? Maybe they'll be more "accountable" then.

Ha, yes, if they knew they would suffer a seriously punitive action in response to their actions (or lack thereof), perhaps we would have legislators who get serious about doing what they were hired to do!

Sometimes I really do wish we could shoot them. They would straighten up and fly right if we could.

But some will always disagree with what they decide and we would eventually end up with no one wanting the job. Who wants to get shot? Depending on how you look at it that may or may not be a good thing.

**Hades** · 06-30-2009, 11:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Allen Farlow

Hades, there was no transfer of power. Sanford still held the power, he left no one else the power to make decisions for the governor.

But what I'm saying is that a second person was there ready to assume in case it was required. The government was not headless.

Institutions will obviously try to preserve themselves, if the presence of the governor was required during the days that he disappeared, I am sure that the power would have been automatically transferred to the lieutenant governor.