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Top Cop Clears Sanford of Any Wrong Doing
posted 07/02/09
6:42 pm
Gov. Mark Sanford admitted to an affair and put his personal life in the public spotlight. The confession will likely destroy his political career, but it also raised serious questions about the use of taxpayer dollars.
Those concerns were cleared up Thursday by SLED Chief Reggie Lloyd.
“We’ve come away with absolutely no evidence of suggestion that any public funds were used in an importer manner,” Lloyd said.
Lloyd said they questioned the governor about a number of trips during his time in office where he met his mistress.
Included are two trips to New York and two to South America. One of the trips overseas was with the Department of Commerce where Sanford stopped in Argentina. He paid the state more than $3,000 in wake of a public outcry, but Lloyd said the move was not necessary.
“What he did on his own private time, does not change that, doesn’t make it illegal and doesn’t require him to pay back anything, he did so for his own reasons,” Lloyd said.
Gov. Sanford's office released his financial records to the public following Lloyd's press conference, this maybe the first bit of good news for Sanford's camp in a long time, but political experts say the damage is done.
“Under the best of circumstances, it was going to be a very challenging second term for the Governor, under these conditions, I’m really struggling to imagine he can be effective,” Dr. Brian McGee, a political scientist with the College of Charleston said.
The calls for his resignation continue to mount but as it stands now the governor plans to weather this storm. A statement from the governor's office says they are pleased with the SLED review, and this issue is behind them once and for all.
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