What a Governor Did For Love

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Before last week, Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina was a rising star in the sinking ship that is the Republican Party. He was best known for turning down his state's cut of the money in President Barack Obama's stimulus package, until the courts forced him to take it. As a family-values conservative, Sanford has been mentioned as a possible GOP candidate to take Obama's job in 2012.

Now Sanford has become a national punchline, the latest to be exposed (so to speak) as another high-ranking male politician--Republican or Democrat--who couldn't keep his pants on. And you can also forget the White House run.

After days of pulling a disappearing act and offering the creative excuse of hiking in the mountains, the married Sanford finally admitted in a news conference that he really spent time in Argentina with a woman who has since been identified as TV producer Maria Blelen Chopur. Their relationship was verified with the release of e-mails the Governor wrote, whose passages read like they came from a bad romance novel.

There are some serious questions to ponder about Sanford's alleged indiscretion. What would have happened if South Carolina were hit by some kind of crisis, and nobody in state government knew of the Governor's whereabouts? If this had happened with the President of the United States, a Constitutional crisis would have erupted.

What about Sanford's family, which includes four children? According to reports, First Lady Jenny Sanford didn't know of her husband's sojourn to Argentina, but she does know about the relationship. She said she had previously turned down his requests to see his mistress, which begs the question: When you're having an affair, do you really need permission to pursue it from the wife? The Sanfords have reportedly separated.

For the time being, Mark Sanford is still the governor of South Carolina. Whether or not he eventually leaves that job, the damage has been done to his family, career and reputation. All because he met a woman named Maria.