Costly confession for S.C. governor

COLUMBIA —- After going AWOL for seven days, Gov. Mark Sanford admitted Wednesday that he had secretly flown to Argentina to visit a woman with whom he was having an affair. Wiping away tears, he apologized to his family and gave up a national Republican Party post, but was silent on whether he would resign.

“I’ve been unfaithful to my wife,” he said in a news conference in which the 49-year-old governor ruminated on God’s law, moral absolutes and following one’s heart. He said he spent the last five days “crying in Argentina.”

Sanford, who in recent months had been mentioned as a possible presidential candidate in 2012, said he would resign as head of the Republican Governors Association.

By leaving the country without formally transferring power, critics said he neglected his gubernatorial authority and put the state at risk. It wasn’t clear how his staff could reach him in an emergency.

As a congressman, Sanford voted in favor of three of four articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton, citing the need for “moral legitimacy.”

The affair is over, Sanford said, describing the woman who lives in Argentina as a “dear, dear friend” who he has known for about eight years and been romantically involved with for about a year.

He said he has seen her three times since the affair began, and his wife, Jenny, found out about it five months ago. He did not identify the woman.

“What I did was wrong. Period,” he said.

His family did not attend the news conference. Jenny Sanford issued a statement saying she had asked the governor to leave and stop speaking to her two weeks ago.

The governor said he wants to reconcile, and his wife’s statement said her husband has earned a chance to resurrect their marriage.

“This trial separation was agreed to with the goal of ultimately strengthening our marriage,” she said.

Sanford denied instructing his staff to cover up his affair, but acknowledged that he told them he thought he would be hiking on the Appalachian Trail and never corrected that impression after leaving for South America.

“I let them down by creating a fiction with regard to where I was going,” Sanford said. “I said that was the original possibility. Again, this is my fault in … shrouding this larger trip.”

Questions about Sanford’s whereabouts arose early this week. For two days after reporters started asking questions, his office had said he had gone hiking on the trail.

Cornered at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport by a reporter from The State newspaper, Sanford revealed Wednesday that he had gone to Argentina for a seven-day trip.

When news first broke about his mysterious disappearance, Jenny Sanford told The Associated Press she did not know where her husband had gone for the Father’s Day weekend.

Sanford, who was elected governor in 2002, recently lost a high-profile battle to reject $700 million in federal stimulus funding that he said should be spent instead on reducing the state deficit. After challenging the Obama administration, federal courts and the state legislature on the issue, he backed down on June 8 and requested the funding.

Sanford’s announcement came a day after another prominent Republican, Sen. John Ensign of Nevada, apologized to his GOP Senate colleagues after revealing last week that he had an affair with a campaign staffer.

The NewYork Times contributed to this article.

Sanford’s e-mail

Below are excerpts of e-mails between South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford and Maria, a woman in Buenos Aires, Argentina, obtained in December by The State newspaper of Columbia. The State removed her full name and other personal details, including her address, e-mail address and children’s names.

From Sanford July 10, 2008, 12:24 a.m.

Leave at 5 a.m. for New York and meetings. Will think about you on its streets and wish I was going to be there later in the month when you are there. Tomorrow night back to Philadelphia for the start of the National Governor’s (sic) Conference through the weekend. Back to Columbia for Tuesday and then on Wednesday, as I think I had told you, taking the family to China, Tibet, Nepal, India, Thailand and then back through Hong Kong on world wind (sic) tour. Few days home then to Bahamas for 5 days on a friend’s boat for the last break of the summer. The following weekend have been asked to spend it out in Aspen, Colorado with McCain —- which has kicked up the whole VP talk all over again in the press back home. …

You have a particular grace and calm that I adore. You have a level of sophistication that (is) so fitting with your beauty. I could digress and say that you have the ability to give magnificent gentle kisses, or that I love your tan lines or that I love the curve of your hips. …

We are in a hopelessly —- or as you put it impossible —- or how about combine and simply say hopelessly impossible situation of love. How in the world this lightening (sic) strike snuck up on us I am still not quite sure. …

Please sleep soundly knowing that despite the best efforts of my head my heart cries out for you, your voice, your body, the touch of your lips, the touch of your finger tips and an even deeper connection to your soul.

From Maria July 9, 2008, 8:14 p.m.

You are my love … something hard to believe even for myself as it’s also a kind of impossible love, not only because of distance but situation. Sometimes you don’t choose things, they just happen. … I can’t redirect my feelings and I am very happy with mine towards you.