Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Mark Sanford: Man with no boundaries?

The caricature of former S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford keeps getting broader. The man with no boundaries allegedly crossed another he shouldn't have, according to ex-wife Jenny. She says he trespassed at her home in violation of their divorce settlement. A judge has set a hearing two days after he stands for election to a vacant congressional seat against Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch and Green Party candidate Eugene Platt.

Sanford, of course, is publicly documented for having a trouble with boundaries. He stretched the boundaries of truth in explaining a tryst with his Argentine mistress, now fiancee, while governor of South Carolina and still married to Jenny Sanford. He said he was hiking the Appalachian Trail while actually in Argentina wooing his illicit amour. All that would have been his business alone if not for the fact he was chief executive of a state, still on the clock and nobody knew how to reach him if needed.

He also walked all over the truth while underwriting his affair. The famously fiscally conservative governor had no trouble dipping into state coffers for travel expenses to South America to rendezvous with his lover. Before leaving office he avoided impeachment but was censured by the Legislature over those expenses and paid the largest ethics fine ever in S.C. history - $70,000.

Marital fidelity? He of course zipped right across that boundary.

And he's had mind boggling trouble with the boundary of propriety as a divorcee. Sanford asked ex-wife Jenny to run his campaign for Congress, seeing as how she was so helpful to his former political campaigns when they were married. She declined.

All of this might mean little to S.C. voters come election day next month. Sanford obliterated his Republican rival to get the GOP nod earlier this month. The district has elected Republicans in the last several outings.

But voters might want to remember his trouble with boundaries. Jenny Sanford's complaint was filed in February. In it, her lawyer said the ex-governor has "entered into a pattern of entering onto plaintiff's property. Plaintiff has informed defendant on a number of occasions that this behavior is in violation of the court's order and has demanded that it not occur again." Jenny Sanford said: "I am doing my best not to get in the way of his race (for Congress)... I want him to sink or swim on his own. For the sake of my children I'm trying my best not to get in the way, but he makes things difficult for me when he does things like trespassing."

Voters have to wonder what other boundaries he might have difficulty observing if elected to the House.

8 comments:

cooldela1966 said...

We must forgive Mark just like we did Teddy Kennedy, Bill Clinton and the Reverend Doctor Jesse Jackson. If we forgive one then we must forgive them all. After all, what Mark did was not as shameful as what Teddy did. And Teddy went on to retire as the "Lion of the Senate" amid the tears of his fellow Senators. Maybe Mark will go on to becoming the "Lion of the House."

Charles said...

Nice font change showing where you copied and pasted, presumably from Huffington Post or DailyKos.

kantstanzya said...

Big news for the Observer! Congressional candidate not even from the same state disobeys a divorce decree. The house he trespassed in I believe was HIS house before the divorce. I first thought he might have been getting some personal items out of it. Just heard he is saying he went to watch the Super Bowl with his son.

Should he have done it? No. How many divorces do each of us know about that have incidents like this happen all the time as the former spouses have trouble with new court imposed boundaries that affect the relationships with their children?

I had to laugh at Ms. Flono's outrage that Sanford had an affair which might "have been his business alone if not for the fact he was chief executive of a state (and) still on the clock". Was Bill Clinton not chief executive of a state and a country when he had affairs and variously assaulted Gennifer Flowers, Jaunita Broaderick, Kathlene Willey, Paula Jones and who knows who else? Was he not "on the clock" with Monica Lewinsky? Nope. To people like Fannie Flono that was all his personal business...totally separate from his ability to do his job. And furthermore people "persecuting" him were doing it for petty political purposes.

Let's move on to something more important. What's Nickki Haley doing today?

Skippy said...

The NRCC just pulled the plug on him, he is toast.

Adolf said...

South Carolina - state with no soul.

Charles said...

Heh - Fannie fixed the font change but refuses to respond to reader comments. Typical let them eat cake from Fannie.

NCdirtdigger said...

Why do you hate white people Fannie?

Bill said...

Of course, the GOP faithful will blame the media, Fannie and anyone else but Sanford.

Sad reflection of a party fading into irrelevancy.