Sanford used taxpayer money on Argentine adventure

For a guy that seems like he has Tourette’s when he’s talking about the General Assembly and taxpayer dollars, Gov. Mark Sanford took advantage of our state’s tax revenues to go see his paramour, Maria Belén Chapur, in Argentina.

According to The Post & Courier, Sanford was in Buenos Aires for three days, exactly a year ago, and only had one meeting during what was supposedly a trade mission. During Sanford’s “woe is me” teary announcement on Wednesday, he said that his relationship became romantic with Chapur a year ago, so the math begins to add up. When you consider the timeline and content of the emails between the two, it’s obvious.

That’s why, after being called out on it, Sanford said today, “I am going to reimburse the state for the full cost of the Argentina leg of this trip.” Despite having only one meeting, according to the Department of Commerce agenda, Sanford starts lapsing into his old ways, hedging on what we know to be true.

“However, while the purpose of this trip was an entirely professional and appropriate business development trip, I made a mistake while I was there in meeting with the woman who I was unfaithful to my wife with,” he said.

Sure, Governor. At this time last year, you had an email relationship with this woman for seven years, you discussed intimate sexual matters with her, among other things, and you just happened to see her.