South Carolina’s Gov. Mark Sanford was for a while touted as a possible savor for a demoralized and defeated Republican party. But the fiscal and social conservative was undone by his own infidelity. Earlier this summer, the governor went missing. Neither his staff nor security detail could account for him. His wife eventually told the press that he went hiking on the Appalachian trial to clear his head. That he did not.

A few days later, Sanford held a press conference to announce that he was, in fact, in Argentina where he visited an Argentine reporter whom has long been his mistress. Sanford also announced that, unlike other disgraced politicians, he intended to remain governor. His wife was, of course, unaware of the affair, and he also left for Argentina, more than once, unbeknownst to her. Unlike in other moments when a politician is announcing a scandal, she did not appear next to her husband as the loyal political wife. She kicked him out of the Governor’s Mansion, and has seen filed for divorce and left the house with their four sons. She told the press her husband is having a “midlife crisis.” Sanford’s career looked dead, but then media attention left him entirely in the dust as the news turned to the death of Michael Jackson. Most politicians would have welcomed the shift in focus, and then moved on to salvage whatever political capital they have left. But Sanford is atypical. Unprompted, he called another press conferences to voluntarily reveal the details of his affair with a woman he now called his “soul mate” (she hasn’t returned the compliment thus far and remains in Argentina). His actions naturally brought back the press, which predictably irritated his own party. One Republican state legislator told Sanford to “shut up.” Sanford’s own revival of his affair brought with it investigation into his travel since the governor was partial conducting the affair overseas. And that has brought with it Sanford’s other scandal: fiscal illegality and imprudence.

Sanford has crafted a reputation for strict fiscal conservatism. He has vetoed countless spending bills, was opposed to the $700 earmarked for his state in Obama’s fiscal stimulus, and even instructed state employees to use the backside of Post-it notes and once walking into the state legislator with two piglets in hand to protest “pork-barrel” spending.

But while preaching such fiscal responsibility, if you will, he has been violating his own words and state fiduciary laws. He has used state planes for personal and political trips, which is against the law. And although state law makes it incumbent that public officials travel as cheaply as possibly when flying commercial, Sanford billed taxpayers for first and business-class seats. “If you’re going to step straight into business meetings that have significant economic consequence for the people of our state, you need to have gotten some level of sleep the night before,” Sanford explained. Fair enough. But the excuse will not make him any more popular. His own Vice-Governor has called on him to resign.

Source: The Economist.