Adulterous governor’s chattiness puzzles PR exec, ex-staffer

Adultery should be the love that dare not speak its name, at least among politicians, but the South Carolina governor’s adultery seems to be the love that won’t shut up.

Gov. Mark Sanford attracted media frenzy last week when he called a news conference to detail his tango with an Argentine mistress, but the death of Michael Jackson the next day turned the world’s attention elsewhere.

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Mary Ann Chastain/AP

Instead of letting his personal indiscretions fade into the background, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford has continued to talk about his former mistress.

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Inexplicably, Sanford found his way back into the spotlight this week when he confessed to additional misbehavior with his mistress and a handful of others.

“I’d hate to kick a guy when he’s down but he seems to be asking America to kick him,” said Mark DeMoss, an Atlanta public relations executive serving religious nonprofits and a former unpaid adviser to the Mitt Romney campaign.

“I’m hearing a lot of people say, ‘Who’s advising him? Either he’s got bad advisers or he’s got no advisers.’ And I keep saying ‘Maybe he’s getting good advice and he’s not taking it.’”

Indeed, few advisers would have suggested that the governor use a news-service interview to explore a hurting conscience, or speak of his mistress as his “soul mate,” or describe his infidelity as a tragic love story, or suggest that he was going to try to fall back in love with his wife.

“Now it’s starting to sound more and more like he’s almost proud of these exploits with women,” said DeMoss.

The governor once had a powerful adviser in his wife, Jenny, who managed his first campaign, said South Carolina Democrat Alexander Sanders, 19th president of the College of Charleston and former candidate for the Senate seat vacated by Strom Thurmond. But since Jenny Sanford kicked her husband out of their home, her advice is unavailable.

“He had one political handler and she was the alpha and omega of everything he did,” said Sanders. “That was his wife, and he has lost her. He is at sea. He is all sail and no anchor.”

The governor raised eyebrows again Wednesday when he backed out of a promise to release personal financial records to the media proving he did not use state money for trips to see his mistress.

His spokesman, Joel Sawyer, told The Associated Press that the governor does not want to discuss personal matters in the media anymore.

“Somebody Tackle Him,” wrote South Carolinian Will Folks, a former spokesman for the governor, on his Web site Fitsnews.com.

“This will probably go down in the textbooks as an example of how not to handle the aftermath of a personal scandal,” said Folks, who left the governor’s employ in 2005 after Folks was charged in a domestic violence case.

Sanford, a conservative Republican, is used to ignoring advice and often staked out contrarian positions.

“He is difficult to contain and impossible to control,” said Folks. “That has worked for him in many instances … in this instance, it began to unravel.”

Calls for Sanford’s resignation gained additional momentum Wednesday, with more of the governor’s former allies lining up against him.

“There’s just no way he’ll be able to continue as governor,” said Senate Majority Leader Harvey Peeler, a Gaffney Republican. “I’m really concerned about his mental well-being.”

Sanders said “the only person that still supports Sanford today is in Argentina.”

The governor may be seeking guidance in his faith. He has emphasized his Christianity in his discussion of the issue, and has insisted that God wants him to stay in office. Speaking to his staff, he mentioned the biblical story of David, who transgressed but regained God’s favor.

“It seems like a smart move to go to biblical texts to try to redeem himself, people have done that through history,” said Gary Laderman, professor of religion and culture at Emory University and author of a new book on sex, celebrity and religion in the U.S.

But DeMoss said “that’s a bad comparison.” David paid a price before he got back to work: losing his child, his peace and the honor of building the Temple.

Laderman agreed: “You usually have a little more humility and modesty than to draw a parallel between yourself and one of the greatest figures of the Hebrew Bible.”