The House Judiciary Committee meeting on Wednesday to address the impeachment or censure of Gov. Mark Sanford was classic House. There were impassioned speeches, some ill-chosen remarks and after all that noise, little actually was accomplished.
It started out with debate over the impeachment resolution, which was passed unfavorably out of subcommittee last week. It didn’t go so well in full committee, falling to an 18-6 vote. Reps. Greg Delleney, Keith Kelly, Vida Miller, Todd Rutherford, Bakari Sellers and Seth Whipper went for it. Rutherford got rather animated in his evaluation of the subcommittee’s work, saying at one point, “We really are the idiots people make us out to be.” He also chimed in with, “We care more about striped bass than we do about this.” Some of his comments rankled Rep. Jim Harrison, who asked, and received, an apology.
The committee moved on to the censure resolution, which passed unanimously. Censure comes down in the gray middle between a genuine punishment and having to have something on the books that shows members of the General Assembly do not approve of what Sanford has been up to. Rep. James Smith said in an AP story, “A vote for censure is not an endorsement for the governor’s conduct. It’s quite the contrary.”
Speaker of the House Bobby Harrell, reflecting on the censure bill moving to the full House, said in a statement, “The Committee’s ruling to honor the recommendation from the subcommittee was the right decision. Our state’s Constitution sets a very high standard for removal from office. While this process revealed the Governor’s actions to be irresponsible, misguided and hypocritical, the evidence available did not reach the Constitutional level to remove the Governor from office.
“The censure resolution — a legislative decree condemning the Governor’s actions — will now move to the House floor. I expect the full House to quickly address this censure and move on to more pressing issues facing our state.
“While the Governor’s irresponsible actions did not meet the Constitutional definition for removal, they clearly warrant an official censure by the House of Representatives. In fact, the embarrassment and continued distraction caused by these actions should have warranted the Governor’s resignation from office — an action that I and an overwhelming majority of lawmakers urged the Governor to take in the best interest of our state months ago.”
Sanford isn’t totally off the hook. His suspected ethics violations are still subject to investigation and sanctions from the State Ethics Commission. However, getting a few fines levied on him isn’t likely to provide too much pain to the Governor, who has already seen his biggest punishment — the death of his political career — happen months ago.
