Thursday, July 02, 2009

Sanford Watch: State Law Enforcement Reports . . . 'No Improper Use of Funds.'

I have yet to hear from anyone in South Carolina circles who strongly believes that Gov. Mark Sanford should not resign. With his latest round of comments, the tone has shifted from the usual shock, disappointment, anger, etc., to a bit of concern that Sanford may not be playing with a full deck at this point.

The State Law Enforcement Division has scheduled a 2 p.m. news conference in Columbia to announce its findings in a review of whether his travel budget was misused. If it's bad, expect those who are privately expressing their concerns to make those concerns less private.

UPDATE: The South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division declares that it has reviewed the relevant records and "in regards to this relationship, we have found no improper use of public funds. That is the scope of our review. The governor's office was extremely cooperative. The governor even made himself available for an interview. And in the end, we have found absolutely no suggestion that any state funds were used improperly."

Sanford has denied misusing state funds. He initially told the AP he would show them his financial records to prove it, then changed his mind.

In other news, his book deal has been canceled.

UPDATE: At this point, Sanford's office is offering no indications that he has any interest in resigning; the plan is that he will spend the weekend in Florida with his family.

That's Florida the state, not Florida the street.

ANOTHER UPDATE: On MSNBC, the anchor just asked Dan Abrams whether Sanford's turning down "perfectly good stimulus funds" counts as evidence that he is not psychologically stable.

07/02 01:33 PMShare