19 Mark Sanford
USINFO | 2013-07-16 13:05
Mark Sanford
115th Governor of South Carolina
In office
January 15, 2003 – January 12, 2011
Lieutenant André Bauer
Preceded by Jim Hodges
Succeeded by Nikki Haley
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from South Carolina's 1st district
In office
January 3, 1995 – January 3, 2001
Preceded by Arthur Ravenel
Succeeded by Henry Brown
Personal details
Born Marshall Clement Sanford, Jr.
May 28, 1960 (age 52)
Fort Lauderdale,Florida, United States
Political party Republican
Spouse(s) Jenny Sullivan (1989–2010)
Children 4
Residence Beaufort County, South Carolina
Alma mater Furman University
University of Virginia
Profession Real estate executive
Religion Episcopalian
Signature
Military service
Service/branch United States Air Force
Years of service 2003–present (reserve)
Rank Captain
Unit 315th Airlift Wing
315th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron
Charleston Air Force Base

Marshall Clement "Mark" Sanford, Jr. (born May 28, 1960) is an American politician from South Carolina, who was the 115th Governor of South Carolinafrom 2003 to 2011. A member of the Republican Party, he served from 1995 to 2001 as Congressman in the United States House of Representatives for South Carolina's 1st congressional district, where he held conservative positions.

In 2002, he was elected the 115th Governor of South Carolina, defeating Democratic incumbent Jim Hodges, and was reelected in 2006. As governor, Sanford had a contentious relationship with the South Carolina legislature: notably, he made public statements that he would reject stimulus funds for his state from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Following a subsequent battle in the South Carolina Supreme Court, he was forced to accept the funds.

On June 24, 2009, Sanford resigned as chairman of the Republican Governors Association, after he publicly revealed that he had engaged in an affair with María Belén Chapur, an Argentine woman.[1] He was later censured by the South Carolina General Assembly following a State Ethics Commission investigation into allegations that he had misused state travel funds to conduct his affair.

Sanford is also a real estate developer and a medical administration officer in the U.S. Air Force Reserve.[2]

On December 22, 2012, Mark Sanford sent an email to supporters, confirming he will run for Congress in 2013. The announcement followed rumors of the previous week that Sanford was considering entering the race, to fill the seat left open by Representative Tim Scott, who was appointed to fill SenatorJim DeMint's seat.[3]


Early life
Marshall Clement Sanford, Jr. was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States. His parents were Marshall Clement Sanford, Sr., a cardiologist, and his wife, the former Peggy Pitts. Before his senior year of high school, Sanford moved with his family from Fort Lauderdale to the 3,000-acre (1,200 ha) Coosaw Plantation near Beaufort, South Carolina. Sanford attained the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America.[4] He was a member of Troop 509 of the South Florida Council of the BSA chartered by St Martins in the Fields Church of Pompano Beach, Florida. Prior to moving to South Carolina he lived in an ocean front home on the barrier island of Lighthouse Point, Florida. He also spent time at his parents' 40-acre (16 ha) cattle ranch in Delray Beach, Florida. He has a younger brother, William, a.k.a. "Billy".

Sanford received a Bachelor of Arts degree in business from Furman University in 1983 and a Master of Business Administration degree from Darden Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Virginia in 1988.[5]

After graduating from Furman University, Sanford's first job was as an associate for Coldwell Banker in 1983. He then worked as a project supervisor for Beachside Real Estate at the Isle of Palms, with Pat McKinney and Frank Brumley, between 1984 and 1986. In 1987, while working towards his MBA, he was trained at Goldman Sachs. After graduating with his MBA, he took a position as a financial analyst with Chemical Realty Corporation (1988–1990). At the end of 1990, he moved back to Charleston, South Carolina and worked as a real estate broker on Daniel Island for Brumley Company (1990–1991).

Sanford founded Norton and Sanford Real Estate Investment, a leasing and brokerage company, in 1992. He still owns the company.[6]

In the early 1990s, Sanford moved to Sullivan's Island, a wealthy island suburb off Charleston, with his then-wife Jenny, and their four boys, Marshall, Landon, Bolton, and Blake.

Congress

 

Congressman Sanford

In 1994, Sanford entered the Republican primary for the Charleston-based 1st Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives. The seat had come open after Republican four-term incumbent Arthur Ravenel gave it up to make an unsuccessful run for governor. Despite having never run for office before, Sanford finished second in a crowded primary behind Van Hipp, Jr, a former George H. W. Bush administration official. Sanford defeated Hipp in the runoff, and easily won the November general election. He was reelected twice, both times facing only minor-party opposition.

While in Congress, Sanford was recognized as its most fiscally conservative member by the Cato Institute. He was also recognized by Citizens Against Government Waste, as well as the National Tax Payers Union, for his efforts to rein in government spending and reduce the national deficit. [7] He garnered a lifetime rating of 92 from the American Conservative Union,[8] opposing abortion for example[9]), He voted for the Clinton impeachment following the Lewinsky scandal, declaring Clinton's behavior to be "reprehensible."[10] In keeping with a promise to serve only three terms, he did not run for reelection in 2000,

Governor of South Carolina

First term
He entered the gubernatorial election of 2002; he first defeated Lt. Gov. Bob Peeler in the Republican primary and then defeated the Democratic incumbent, Jim Hodges, in the general election, by a margin of 53% to 47% to become the 115th Governor of South Carolina. In accordance with South Carolina law, Sanford was elected separately from the state's Republican lieutenant governor, Andre Bauer. Sanford and Bauer's wins gave the Republicans full control of state government for the first time since Reconstruction.

In 2003, just after becoming governor, Sanford joined the Air Force Reserve and attended two week’s training in Alabama with his unit, the 315th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron. While in training, Sanford did not transfer power to Bauer, saying he would be in regular contact with his office, and would transfer authority in writing only if he were called to active duty.[12]

Sanford sometimes had a contentious relationship with the South Carolina General Assembly, even though it was dominated by his party for his entire tenure. The Republican-led state House of Representatives overrode 105 of Sanford's 106 budget vetoes on May 26, 2004.[13] The following day, Sanford brought live pigs into the House chamber as a visual protest against "pork projects."[14]

Sanford rejected the Assembly's
entire budget on June 13, 2006. Had this veto stood, the state government would have shut down on July 1. He explained his veto as being the only way to get the cuts he desired, and that using the line item veto would have been inadequate as well as impossible. However, in a special session the following day, both houses dismissed Sanford's call for reform by overriding his veto–-effectively restoring their original budget[15] (which indeed contained many reforms Sanford had previously called for).

Sanford professed to be a firm supporter of limited government. Later in his tenure, he embarked on a plan to reform methods of funding the state's public education system, including measures such as school vouchers– aimed at introducing more competition into the school system as a means of fostering improvement. The plan, known as "Put Parents In Charge," proposed to provide around $2,500 per child to parents who chose to withdraw their children from the state's public school system and instead send them to independent schools. Sanford framed this plan as a necessary market-based reform.

Sanford also sought to reform the state's public college system. Sanford has criticized these schools as focusing too much on separately creating research institutions and not on educating the young adults of South Carolina. Sanford also suggested that they combine some programs as a means of curbing tuition increases. The schools did not respond positively to this suggestion, however, causing Sanford to remark that "if any institution ultimately feels uncomfortable with our push toward coordination, they can exit the system and go private."[16]

Sanford also indicated a desire to increase the powers of the executive branch. Under the South Carolina Constitution, the governor is somewhat weaker than many of his counterparts. For instance, many of his appointment powers are shared with the South Carolina General Assembly.

Sanford's first term included other controversies. A Time Magazine article in November 2005, critical of Sanford, said that some "fear his thrift has brought the state's economy to a standstill."[17]

According to Survey USA, Sanford's approval ratings ranged from 47% to 55% during 2006.[18] According to Survey USA, Sanford's approval ratings in South Carolina after his admission of infidelity (6-24-09) showed that "60% think the Governor should resign. 34% feel he should remain in office."[19]

Reelection and second term

Campaign
His campaign for reelection in 2006 began by Sanford winning the June 13 Republican Primary over Oscar Lovelace, a family physician from Prosperity, with 65% of the vote to Lovelace's 35%. His Democratic competitor in the November elections was state senator Tommy Moore, whom Sanford beat by 55%–45%.[20]

On election day, Sanford was not allowed to vote in his home precinct because he did not have his voter registration card. He was obliged to go to a voter registration office to get a new registration card. "I hope everybody else out there is as determined to vote as I was today," he said. Sanford's driver's license had a Columbia address, but Sanford was trying to vote at his home precinct in Sullivan's Island.[21] According to WAGT in Augusta, Georgia (whose service area includes part of South Carolina) Sanford declared that it would be his last campaign.[22]

Political actions
In dissent with the Republican Party of South Carolina, Sanford, an Episcopalian, opposed the faith-based license plates his state offers, marketed largely to the state's conservative evangelical citizens. After allowing the law to pass without his signature, he wrote "It is my personal view that the largest proclamation of one's faith ought to be in how one lives his life."[23]

After the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which Sanford strongly opposed and publicly criticized before and after its passage by Congress and presidential signing, Sanford initially indicated he might not accept all of the funds allotted by the spending law to South Carolina.[24] He was criticized by many Democrats and some moderate Republicans both in his state and outside who noted South Carolina's 9.5% unemployment rate (one of the highest in the country) and complained that Sanford wasn't doing enough to improve economic conditions in his state which he was intentionally trying to worsen, which could be alleviated by the stimulus money.[25][26][27] Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Republican governor of California, suggested that if Sanford or other governors rejected their portion of stimulus funds, he would be happy to take them instead.[28]

On March 11, 2009, Sanford became the first United States governor to formally reject a portion of the federal stimulus money earmarked by Congress for the state of South Carolina.[29] Sanford compromised to accept the federal money on condition that the state legislature provide matching funds to pay down the South Carolina state debt.[30] On April 3, 2009, Sanford signed paperwork enabling South Carolina to receive the bailout money.

Rankings
In its April 2010 report, Democratic-leaning watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington [31] named Sanford one of eleven worst governors in the United States because of various ethics issues throughout Sanford's term as governor and his time in Congress.[32][33]

The libertarian Cato Institute ranked Sanford as the best governor in America in their 2010 fiscal policy report card, describing him as "a staunch supporter of spending restraint and pro-growth tax reforms".[35]

Disappearance and extramarital affair
From June 18 until June 24, 2009, the whereabouts of Sanford were unknown to the public, as well as to his wife and the State Law Enforcement Division, which provides security for him, garnering nationwide news coverage. The absence of Governor Sanford was first reported by Jim Davenport of the Associated Press.[37][38] Lieutenant Governor André Bauer announced that he could not "take lightly that his staff has not had communication with him for more than four days, and that no one, including his own family, knows his whereabouts."[39]

Before his disappearance, Sanford told his staff that he would be hiking on the Appalachian Trail and while he was gone he did not answer 15 cell phone calls from his chief of staff Scott English; he also failed to call his family on Father's Day.[40]

Several hours after reporter Gina Smith intercepted Sanford arriving at Atlanta's airport after flying back from Argentina, and upon learning that incriminating evidence was being swiftly mobilized against him by the media, Sanford held a news conference, during which he admitted that he had been unfaithful to his wife.[41][42]

In emotional interviews with the Associated Press over two days, Sanford said he would die "knowing that I had met my soul mate."[43] Sanford also said that he "crossed the lines" with a handful of other women during 20 years of marriage, but not as far as he did with his mistress. "There were a handful of instances wherein I crossed the lines I shouldn't have crossed as a married man, but never crossed the ultimate line," he said.

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