Mark Sanford should resign

SC gov 'crossed lines' with women

Excerpt:

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford said Tuesday that he "crossed lines" with a handful of women other than his mistress—but never had sex with them.

The governor said he "never crossed the ultimate line" with anyone but Maria Belen Chapur, the Argentine at the center of a scandal that has derailed his once-promising political career.

"This was a whole lot more than a simple affair, this was a love story," Sanford said. "A forbidden one, a tragic one, but a love story at the end of the day."

During an emotional interview at his Statehouse office with The Associated Press on Tuesday, Sanford said Chapur is his soul mate but he's trying to fall back in love with his wife.

He said that during the encounters with other women he "let his guard down" with some physical contact but "didn't cross the sex line." He wouldn't go into detail.

Sanford said the casual encounters happened outside the U.S. while he was married but before he met Chapur, on trips to "blow off steam" with male friends.

Sanford also admitted he saw Chapur more times than previously disclosed, including what was to be a farewell meeting in New York chaperoned by a spiritual adviser soon after his wife found out about the affair.

He described five meetings with Chapur over the past year, including two romantic, multi-night stays with her in New York before they met there again intending to break up.

He said he saw her two other times, including their first meeting in 2001 at an open-air dance spot in Uruguay.

"There was some kind of connection from the very beginning," he told The Associated Press, though he said neither that meeting nor a 2004 coffee date in New York during the Republican National Convention were romantic.

His interview was the first disclosure of any liaisons with Chapur in the United States and contradicted a public confession last week during which he admitted to a total of five encounters over their eight-year relationship.

Comment: For the sake of his wife and children AND for the sake of the South Carolina and National GOP, he should resign!

Updated: Why Gov. Sanford Should Resign

While it is unlikely the Republican dominated House or Senate will ultimately be in the mood for impeachment, it shouldn’t have to come to that. Governor Sanford should resign from public office until his private life can be repaired. The road to restoration with his wife and children may have begun but it is a road that is filled with many possible detours. When Jenny Sanford was asked if her husband should resign, she immediately put emphasis back where it belongs. She said she wasn’t concerned about her husbands’s career but with the health of her family. I wish her husband felt the same way. Right now, Governor Sanford should leave public service and serve his wife and boys. He should practice the family values that he has championed in the past and put the family first.

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It pains me to say it but I believe restoring the trust of the people can only be achieved if Governor Sanford seeks to be restored to God and to his wife before asking to be restored to the trust of the people. He should resign and turn his heart toward home.