Sanford defense based on Morris note

The defense building around Gov. Mark Sanford to protect him from being removed from office now seems to be including one strange thing as a major part of the effort. It’s a handwritten note from 1987, drafted by who was then the director of the State Development Board, J. Mac Holladay, to Comp. Gen. Earle Morris.

All sorts of questions begin to pop up. Who saves a handwritten note for 22 years referring to international travel policy by the Department of Commerce? How does one obtain such documentation?

Regardless, the Sanford legal team points to that note as giving the governor an exception to the 1981 policy requiring state employees to fly economy class. The assumption, it seems, is that the governor is considered a part of the DOC on certain flights. Sen. David Thomas basically said, “Bah!” to that because other governors took trips on the private dime. A fund which was then called the public dime in 2002. Ha, ha, legal minutiae!

Then there’s the political trivia that Morris, who also was lieutenant governor and quite literally signed off on the policy, is serving a three-plus-year sentence in prison. As you’ll recall, he got caught up in the Carolina Investors mess and was chairman of the company, but always said he didn’t profit from one of the biggest company implosions in state history.