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EDITOR OF REDSTATE

Governor Sanford’s Office Checks In With Us

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  June 22nd, 2009 at 08:33 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

With all the reports of a missing Governor Mark Sanford whose staff and wife allegedly have no idea where he is and have not heard from him, I figured it was worth checking in with his office. His Communications Director sent us this statement:

The governor put in a lot of time during this last legislative session, and after the session winds down it’s not uncommon for him to go out of pocket for a few days at a time to clear his head. Obviously, that’s going to be somewhat out of the question this time given the attention this particular absence has gotten. Before leaving last week, he let staff know his whereabouts and that he’d be difficult to reach. Should any emergencies arise between the times in which he checks in, our staff would obviously be in contact with other state officials as the situation warrants before making any decisions.

For the record, Governor Sanford is hiking part of the Appalachian Trail.

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  • DONTREADONME

    Governor of SC is AWOL or AWOTTPWHI “absent w/o telling the press where he is”. Today’s big news was Governor Kaine is using public funding to finance his campaigning and fundraising, or thats the suspicion until the VA GOP receives the costs of the Lame Duck Governor are released as part of a FOI petition. So, IMO they decided to bring up Mark Sanford (R) (they made sure you knew he was a (R)) as a way to usher in equivocation.

    BTW, the news failed to report Kaines party affiliation and then said the VA Democratic Party had requested the information. I could have misheard that but I wouldn’t put it past ABC news to intentionally get that wrong.

  • Doc Holliday

    did his wife really not know where he was, and what does that mean exactly? Was she looking for him or just tell someone who called she didn’t know where he was at the time?

    If this is just trumped up drive by media drivel, someone needs to be held accountable.

  • mom2oneson

    started the rumor? Since he is a ’12 possibility?

  • DONTREADONME
  • Mike gamecock DeVine

    He was never “missing”.

  • Doc Holliday

    i do, I am just wondering if anyone knows what this is about, I have not been following this today.

  • Mike gamecock DeVine

    Sanford and fear him.

  • TNJim

    They’re just sure we have another Ensign on our hands. You can expect it to be twisted every which way since, as mom2oneson pointed out, he has been mentioned as a ’12 possibility.

  • http://www.ssce.net/Web-Articles/Web-articles-indexed-authors.html#authors-l JLenardDetroit

    that’s what…. And the latest focus on his inability to get the most basic of “we stand by those who crave freedom” concepts right in Iran statements.

  • Doc Holliday

    at least the Democrats. But everyone here is defending Sanford when I just asked if anyone knew what the story was “really about”? I guess no one wants to answer this. Are they suggesting he was out carousing so to speak? Where did they get the idea his wife did not know where he was? If this is completely trumped up, it should blow back huge in the drive-by’s faces.

  • Doc Holliday

    I put nothing by the press, they are scoundrels.

  • http://www.ssce.net/Web-Articles/Web-articles-indexed-authors.html#authors-l JLenardDetroit

    so they can feed an implied conspiracy or “affair” …. anything they can trump up about ANY Republican(s) they will… it is 100% deflection.

  • toughintn

    “Should any emergencies arise between the times in which he checks in, our staff would obviously be in contact with other state officials as the situation warrants before making any decisions.”

    So the governor thinks he can be unreachable “between the times in which he checks in” — and that his staff should be “in contact with other state officials” during an emergency?

    That just doesn’t sound right.

    I hope he clarifies.

  • tankertodd

    I’m shocked, SHOCKED, at the idea of public political officials taking PERSONAL time off (aka vacation). They are supposed to be 100% engaged in finding new ways to piss away our money.

    He should be recalled, impeached, convicted, and given the Palin treatment.

    Woof.

  • Doc Holliday

    is a clear and present danger. We can’t rely only on Fox news, we need to defeat them with asmymetric tactics.

  • http://www.ssce.net/Web-Articles/Web-articles-indexed-authors.html#authors-l JLenardDetroit

    they will be driving that home… it’ll have as much coverage as the Iran protests just because they can spin the implications.

  • Darin_H

    Seriously, Atlanta isn’t that far from SC – Since I lived in the A-T-L for a little while I can assure you that they have televisions, including cable and satellite. If for some reason the governor was urgently needed for a natural disaster or something so big, it would have been on the news, he would have called and gotten right to work.

    Seriously people, it’s the 21st century, people act like we have to send the Pony Express to inform a sitting governor of something.

  • http://www.erickerickson.org Erick Erickson

    The rumor is that Sanford is writing a book and actually, unlike many politicians, doing it himself. So he took a few days off schedule to catch up.

  • toughintn

    Then maybe the governor’s PR people need to be fired.

    Their statements are creating a smoke screen — whether he needs one or not — so it looks like there really is something he’s trying to hide.

    If there’s nothing to this, then he needs to get some staff people who know how to talk to the press and craft professional press releases.

  • Mike gamecock DeVine

    http://www.redstate.com/gamecock/2009/06/22/drive-bys-know-where-sanford-is/

  • antisocial

    That will at least stop the continuous damage that they inflict on the state with every step.

    As for drive by media they just need an R against somebody’s name to manufacture controversy.

  • Mike gamecock DeVine

    that we must at all times be minded by or government nannies….

  • 6eorge Jetson

    and disappeared for four years.

  • DONTREADONME

    in VA from WMAL was that Mark Sanford had gone off with out anyone knowing where he went because this was following his horrible rebuke from the legislature on his 10 Vetoes and the Stimulus funds. So it seems to me that the ABC news was eager to point out Sanfords defeat. Of course this has all been trumped in the greater DC metro area due to the collisions of the two metro trains that have left 6 dead. Awful disaster from a publically funded enterprise.

  • http://www.skiloveland.com lholsenbeck

    Another sign of the feminism of men. You used to be able and just go as long as you made it back for the next workday. Now, you have to update your twitter account every 12 hours or you’re forgotten.

    No thanks. Me and the gov. will stick with walkabouts.

  • Mike gamecock DeVine
  • Darin_H

    laugh in their face, and ask if they be interested in buying into your new invention, the buggy-whip – it’s all the rage these days! Apparently people think someone is inaccessible if the press hasn’t been told.

    This isn’t worth the digital ink that spilled. Just the Drive-Bys trying to take out a credible threat to Obama ’12.

    So laugh.

  • Aaron Gardner

    something about a nefarious VRWC plot.

  • Kate_Shanahan

    If he’s hiking, he’d need some other means of communication. Good place to go if you want to appear out of touch.

  • toughintn

    “Sawyer told The Associated Press that he hadn’t spoken with Sanford since Thursday and wasn’t aware that any other member of the governor’s staff had, either.”

    Oh, come on! That’s just asking for trouble. At worst, reporters think he’s hiding something; at best they think he’s avoiding responsibility by ditching his staff and leaving unelected underlings to do his job. Not great either way.

    So, bottom line?
    Spokesman Joel Sawyer made this an issue. He should have simply said all is well, and the governor’s on a working vacation (assuming the governor was doing at least a bit of writing at night when he left the trail).

    And somebody should tell the governor to be smarter next year. It looks bad for him to be gone (and unreachable) over Father’s Day without his wife and kids.

    That’s just common sense.

    We conservatives sometimes sabotage ourselves.

  • lastrick

    He was only responding to a question from the AP. Someone had to have started AP down this line of inquiry for them to seek Sawyer out — I highly doubt they woke up Monday morning and thought, hey, we should check to see if the governor’s around.

    Someone else must have informed AP of Sanford going away (conveniently leaving out the AT part). Knotts? Democratic SC members?

  • Kayla

    His wife is quoted as saying that she did not know where he was and he had not contacted the family on Father’s Day.

  • lastrick

    If you’ve been there, you’d know it’s not the place you hang around on the cell phone chatting. You wake up each day and hike a few miles and to be honest, a spouse may not know exactly where you are, only that they’re to send a care package to a spot in Virginia/Pennsylvania/etc. at a set date. Love the idea, wish I was there hiking the AT too; I’ve enjoyed every time I’ve hiked it.

  • wesmorgan

    …I do expect a Governor to be “reachable.” There are too many things that can require his attention. I’m fine if he wants to take a vacation, but the notion that no one can reach him until “the next time he checks in” is a bit odd.

    Unless, of course, he actually handed power over to the Lt. Governor; if memory serves, one of our Governors did that some years ago for a similar “out in the woods” vacation…and that would seem the proper way to handle the situation.

    *shrug* It isn’t the greatest way for a Governor to act, but it’s isn’t exactly earthshattering.

  • Kayla

    OK he went hiking. And you don’t tell the wife before you leave? Or your 2nd in command. Now the Lt Gov is saying he did not know his whereabouts either. The Lt Gov is quoted as saying when he called the Gov’s staff on Monday and demanded to speak to him they told him they didn’t know where he was and they hadn’t spoken to him in 4 days. This is just a little weird.

  • DavidSage

    Maybe the press is completely distorting this, but politically speaking, Sanford is an idiot. I have no doubt the press made a bigger issue of it than they should have, but something Republican politicians need to understand is you never give the liberal media an opening like this. It’s not fair, but you’d better get used to it.

    You don’t get to drop off the face of the Earth and become completely unreachable when you’re a sitting Governor. Sorry, but you give up rights like that when you seek higher office, it comes with the territory. What if there was an emergency? Shouldn’t at least the Lt. Governor be put in charge until you come back? I understand not wanting to be bothered, but your staff can certainly defer your calls until you get back, and only contact you in an emergency situation.

    Also, the fact that that his wife was quoted as saying she didn’t know where he was at for several days, and he didn’t even check in for Father’s Day is also really strange.

    This unfortunately derailed his Presidential ambitions, imo, and it’s a real shame because I really liked Sanford, he was a true conservative

    If he’s this dimwitted politically, it’s probably best we found this out now rather than later.

  • http://whereswalden.com/ Jeff Walden

    There are sections of trail where you can get cell phone coverage, but it’s certainly hit or miss.

    It does seem rather more than a bit odd not to have at least left notice of where he’d be — first rule of hiking, really. To be fair, tho, if something’s going to happen to you, there’s basically no better hiking trail for it to happen on than the A.T. given how many people are on it — doesn’t matter where you are on it in spring through fall, you’ll see people every day in any stretch of it. Also, now is about the best time to be on it as far as safety goes, since it’s mid-summer and that far south there will be no danger of temperatures getting anywhere near cold enough to worry about cold spells (at least not outside a couple high-elevation spots like Mount Rogers or the Roan Highlands).

  • mom2oneson

    Who are they to invade the space of his family and ask them for a statement. If she thought he was missing or in danger she would have called to report a missing person.

  • mom2oneson
  • http://www.ssce.net/Web-Articles/Web-articles-indexed-authors.html#authors-l JLenardDetroit

    exactly right… the only comment should have been “he is currently not available for comment and it is not my day to be his keeper” end of discussion.

  • Robert A. Hahn

    Speaking of cell phones, has anyone considered the possibility that he was in line to buy an iPhone? Maybe he didn’t trust anyone on his staff to get one and then hand it over.

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens
  • toughintn

    Of course the AP will ask a pointed question, but you control the discussion with a professional answer — even if the governor makes it tough.

    And for the record, a spokesperson for an elected official should never say to the press: “I haven’t talked with him/her for days, and neither have any of his staff,” unless A) the spokesperson is stupid, or B) the spokesperson purposely want the boss to look bad. I’m starting to wonder which one is more true. And his wife may be passively aggressively undermining his higher political ambitions with HER ill-chosen answers, too.

    You don’t always say everything you think; you can choose your words carefully and still be completely truthful.

    People are finding that out with twitter. You don’t tell the world you’re on vacation and expect your house to be safe from a break-in while you’re gone. Similarly, you don’t tell the press your boss is out of reach, and expect them to leave you alone.

  • Doc Holliday

    nt

  • farstar99

    ….disappeared for four years.

  • Doc Holliday

    during their trips. just google thru hiker and weblog, there are also hiking sites with info on where you can get net access etc. Does the fact he was on the AT prove he could not be contacted? No it does not.

  • Doc Holliday

    Sanford’s staff has been clear as Obama on Iran. I am not scapegoating, but the enemy is telegraphing that they will do anything to take us down separately. We will all go down unless we stick together and start fighting back. I say no respect for the press, don’t fight on their battlefield of choosing. Stop backing up Republicans, and that means all of us!

  • http://whereswalden.com/ Jeff Walden

    You don’t need to tell me that a hiker might keep a trail journal, seeing as I thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail last summer and attempted to keep such a journal. (I’m actually still writing that journal, and I probably will be for months yet, slacker that I am.)

    In any event, when I wrote that comment the last I’d heard was the mess his office had made of the situation, and it sounded like they had no such way to contact him nor that they knew exactly where he was. Occasional net access would be one way to keep in touch, although all things considered I’d be astounded if he didn’t have a cell phone (notwithstanding that I didn’t carry one myself, but I’m a nutcase about using phones as little as possible). Regardless, his office didn’t do much to make it sound to me as though he actually could be contacted — I would hope and presume otherwise, but if I have no evidence beyond what someone’s told me of a fact I have to at least accept the fact as a working hypothesis.

    One last question: why couldn’t he have done this October last year in a portion of TN/NC/GA at the same time I was passing through? It would have been awesome to randomly meet him that way (although given my stench at the time I’m not entirely certain he would have been able to say the same :-) ).

  • leftylurker

    Hiking I can understand. I like to get off the grid too.

    But saying you’re hiking when you’re really in South America?

    http://www.thestate.com/local/story/838823.html

    Somebody has been giving/getting the wrong story here.

    Governor Sanford can go wherever he wants in my opinion, but you have to manage your press better.

  • http://www.examiner.com/x-1597-Charlotte-Law--Politics-Examiner Mike gamecock DeVine

    Sanford’s Argentine revelation proves his staff lied re App Trail and also proves his reckless conduct of his office.

    I have revised my earlier conclusion based on new facts:

    http://www.redstate.com/gamecock/2009/06/22/drive-bys-know-where-sanford-is/

  • leftylurker

    The blamstick cometh if I keep talking on the subject. I have been warned.

  • WilliamPennybanks

    So after all the dust has settled, it looks like the governor took an unpublicized vacation after the end of the legislative session and his family and staff told the press they didn’t know where he was. Have you ever answered the phone and the caller asked to talk to someone who didn’t want to talk to the caller? “He’s not available, I don’t know where he is, just get off the phone.” Why the big deal? The Lt Gv and other political adversaries started screaming to the media when they weren’t told Sanford’s itinerary. Somehow, the state kept running. Lessons learned; if you want to take an unpublicized vacation, either come up with a better cover story or just tell the press he’s on vacation and it’s none of their business.
    I recommend a call to the LG’s office. If you are not put through to the LG, where is he? Why is he unavailable? Who is in charge? These calls can go on all day. He’s an important elected official and needs to answer to the public.

    Lt Gov Andre Bauer
    Office # (803) 734-2080

  • http://www.examiner.com/x-1597-Charlotte-Law--Politics-Examiner Mike gamecock DeVine
  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    But clearly something keeps you coming back here.

    Maybe you should stop and reconsider that it’s our policies that make this site good enough for you to return repeatedly, despite your having your oh-so-coveted FP access at TMR.

  • ZootSuit

    Governor Sanford can go wherever he wants in my opinion, but you have to manage your press better.

    Let’s ban him now!

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens
  • http://www.examiner.com/x-1597-Charlotte-Law--Politics-Examiner Mike gamecock DeVine

    obviously Redstate policies have played a role in making this site a forum of mine for four years now. This month is my anniversary.

    I am also an evangelical sort that seeks to make the sad happy and the happy happier.

    Redstate help launch my new writing career into being the conservative op-ed voice at two major newspapers and features on PBS and in the NYT, WSJ etc

    I love Redstate. I love my children, who also often make me sad.

    And yes, I have appreciated my not infrequent appearances on Redstate’s frontpage. Apparently, the times I have made you sad haven’t caused you to reconsider my policies!

    smile

  • ZootSuit

    Although, in this particular instance, I honestly do agree with him.

  • leftylurker

    I mean that. I like how there are people at this site with whom I can so totally disagree on some things, but yet sense a lot of fellowship in others.

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    But leftys don’t get to use this site to attack conservative Republicans.

    There *are* things that we get to say here, that they don’t.

  • leftylurker

    I agree with you. This is your site, and I’m a guest, and I’m more than happy to play by the rules.

  • http://www.examiner.com/x-1597-Charlotte-Law--Politics-Examiner Mike gamecock DeVine

    convert me. And even when I was a lefty, I meant well!

    You obviously do too.

  • http://whereswalden.com/ Jeff Walden

    Sigh; I had high hopes for Sanford, too. Well, as noted in the later front-pager, at least it’s out now and not a year or two from now. :-\

  • Doc Holliday

    it was to a comment that he could not be contacted if on the trail. I know there are many places where he would not have had cell service. I was just saying one could not say conclusively that if he was on the AT that he could not be contacted.

    Did you finish a Thru-Hike? I want to do it, it is a goal of mine.

  • http://whereswalden.com/ Jeff Walden

    Yeah, I started June 9 and ended October 25 last year, north to south (direction basically forced by college graduation, but it was more convenient anyway coming from Boston, and I probably ended up happier with a more solitary experience, northbound is a constant crowd unless you start early or late). It’s not nearly as hard as it might seem — just start at one end with food and gear (too much of the latter of course, but that’s normal, and you can send stuff home when you realize it), hike until you can get more food, resupply, and repeat until you finish. Take rest days when you’re feeling tired, don’t push yourself too hard at the start, and just keep doing it. The key is that it’s not a 2175-mile hike: it’s thirty or a hundred miles (depending which end you start), then another set, and another, until you finish. (Excluding the northern 100 miles, the rest of it resupply is available every several days or so depending how far off-trail you’re willing go to find a store and how far you want to hike each day.) Goals shouldn’t be more than a week or so at most ahead; focusing on the end will mentally wear you out because it’s so many months in the future. It was definitely one of the best experiences of my life.

    Realistically, if you have the right mindset coming in, the hardest part is finding five or six months of free time to do it. I seized the only opportunity I knew for sure I’d have in the future, some do it between jobs, others wait til retirement, and I have no idea how the rest manage it. (I’m hoping I can get an unpaid leave of absence when I eventually hike the PCT, but I have no idea whether I’ll be able to do so, and that option’s hardly common as far as I know.) Just don’t put it off too long or it’ll never happen.

  • Doc Holliday

    my post college excursion was traveling through Europe. It may not sound original, but it meant a lot to me. I have hiked the AT a lot in the past as a Boy Scout and on my own. I hiked a lot in the Army too lol. One thing I can do is put on foot in front of the other.

    I will take your suggestions to heart because I know they are true. So many have dreams that are just that, if they don’t decide they must do it, they never seem to get around to doing it. I have seen a decent amount of the world and did it pretty young, I figured I could work until I croak but can’t travel how I want to when I am elderly.

    I have heard about going North-South as a more solitary experience, that is right up my alley. I would not mind meeting people, and short periods together, but have no interest in being part of a heard. Also, having read “A Walk in the Woods” by Bryson, I would not be too into some of those last Presidential Mountains if I were too slow and hit them in Winter. Did that think and Winter Warfare School, I have had enough of that lol.

    You should post a diary about your hike, I am sure many would be interested.

  • Doc Holliday

    I know in my mind I thought something was up, but maybe even the “lone wolf” Doc fell into the social effects delineated in the Milgram Experiment. Or maybe I was just holding my fire and going along to get along.

    I said Sanford’s staff was as clear as Obama was on his Iran position. That was true, but that was not the fault of the staff, as they were duped as well. BTW, I just watched the Sanford presser again, and it made me even angrier. What is up with all that jabber about the Appalachian Trail and world travels? Just say you are a horn dog and stop bringing good things that don’t know you even exist into it.