Deputy refuses to call on disgraced governor to quit

THE man who would replace South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford if he resigned over his affair with a woman in Argentina said yesterday he wasn’t calling for the governor’s resignation, and would try to help him through the next year.

Lieutenant Governor Andre Bauer, a fellow Republican, said he spoke to Sanford on Thursday and “could tell he had done a lot of soul searching”.

The two, who have not been allies and don’t run on the same ticket, didn’t discuss the possibility of the governor stepping down.

“Mark Sanford is still my governor and regardless of what his decision is, I’m going to stand by and try to help him,” Bauer said.

While others have called for Sanford’s resignation, the governor planned a meeting of state agency heads for later.

Sanford disappeared to Buenos Aires last week, returning on Wednesday to reveal the affair and publicly apologise to his wife and four sons, his supporters and constituents. He also resigned as chairman of the Republican Governors Association.

Sanford said he left his staff with the impression he was heading off for some solo hiking on the Appalachian Trail, a bogus story that they relayed to reporters who began asking where the governor had gone.

He didn’t tell the lieutenant governor where he was, and Bauer said he was rebuffed by Sanford’s staff when he tried to find out. Sanford faces questions about whether he broke the law when he disappeared without transferring power.

The governor has not addressed the legal questions, but Sanford said he would pay back an undisclosed amount for the nine-day trip to Brazil and Argentina for which taxpayers paid $12,000 (€8,500) last year. That includes $8,687 for Sanford’s plane ticket, and $453 in lodging.