Gov. Mark Sanford is in his penultimate year in office, so despite his recent mess, you would think he wouldn’t have any use for a campaign consultant. And, for a guy who famously does not seem to care what South Carolinians think when he’s developing his policies, he’s dropping serious coin on polling.

On May 11, Sanford paid his (and Rep. Nikki Haley‘s) consultant Jon Lerner $4,000 for “consulting services.” He also sent $10,055 to Lerner’s polling wing, Basswood Research, on the same day. Then, on June 29, he paid Lerner an additional $1,050. This comes on the heels of throwing $4,000 to Red Sea LLC in January, $4,100 in October, $4,000 in August, $17,135 last June and another $4,000 last May. But, it’s not like he’s been consistently paying Lerner during the second term — the first quarter of 2008 and fourth quarter of 2007 list no payments.

So, what’s the payoff? What’s Sanford getting? And why the hell is he putting down 10 large for polling in May?

And what is up with this?

Bethesda, Md.-based consultant Jon Lerner, who was instrumental to Gov. Mark Sanford‘s 2006 victory over Sen. Tommy Moore, has been brought on to manage Rep. Nikki Haley‘s campaign for governor, sources tell WR.

Lerner, who heads up the firm Red Sea LLC and its polling arm, Basswood Research, is allegedly currently going through the process of hiring staff for the effort. Apparently, Brad Warthen, former editorial page editor for The State, ran into one of those new hires at a local Starbucks recently.

While Warthen wrote that he does not want Haley to be the “Sanford candidate” in this cycle, her hiring of the Governor’s lead consultant from his last campaign shows that, indeed, she will be running in that vein.

In addition to Sanford’s campaign, Lerner has done a solid amount of work for the Club for Growth (including the infamous “Freak” ad), the Republican Governors Association and the National Republican Senatorial Committee.