On Nov. 5, the state Supreme Court denied a request from Sanford to keep the results of the State Ethics Commission investigation of the governor’s travel records private.
The request itself dismayed us, as Sanford has long been an advocate of open, transparent government, and had earlier pledged that he had nothing to hide, and that he would allow any investigation to be open to the public.
Then, reversing his position, the governor claimed that results of the probe could be used against him politically.
This claim struck us as odd, as Sanford has repeatedly said that he will not seek higher office once his second term is up in 2010.
As to the potential that the Ethics Commission’s findings could be used against him in possible impeachment proceedings, surely the governor realized that when he stated that he would cooperate with the Commission during their investigation.
We’re glad that the Supreme Court decided to uphold the right of the people to know what their elected leaders are doing while in office.
Allowing the results of the investigation to be kept between Ethics Commissioners and the governor would be doing a disservice to the people of this state.
After all, Sanford did enough hiding in June, when he disappeared for 5 days — secretly traveling to Argentina to break things off with his mistress.
That’s enough sneaking around for one administration.
While we’re heartened by the state Supreme Court ruling, we’re dismayed at a recent decision that Sanford can use the $1.7 million remaining in his campaign finance account to pay for his legal fees regarding the commission investigation.
When Sanford’s supporters donated to his campaign fund, they did so because they supported the governor, supported what he said he stood for, and what he’d already accomplished while in office, and they want to ensure his continued success as head of the ship of state.
They didn’t pledge funds to the governor to dig him out of a mess that’s largely of his own making — when he and the legislature should both be focusing on job creation and digging the state out of its financial hole.
After all, Sanford’s legal fees wouldn’t be so high if he hadn’t reneged on the earlier promise to keep the investigation’s results open.
But now that the campaign fund issue has been resolved, we hope that the governor will stop throwing roadblocks into the investigation, so that he, the General Assembly, and the rest of us can finally move on.
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