With South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford having admitted to an affair and resigned from his chairmanship of the Republican Governor’s Association during his Wednesday press conference, there was a void at the top of the RGA. It didn’t last long — less than an hour after Sanford began speaking to reporters, the RGA sent out a press release announcing Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour as the new chairman.
Included in the release were statements from Barbour, who also used to head the Republican National Committee, and RGA Executive Director Nick Ayers. Both statements are reprinted in full below.
Barbour:
The news revealed today hurts all of us who have gotten to know Governor Sanford over the years and so it is with regret that the RGA accepted Governor Sanford’s resignation as chairman.
While this news is deeply disappointing, I also know it’s important to remain focused on the future and Governor Sanford’s resignation allows him and us to do just that.
The RGA has an important task over the next two years. I am committed to seeing it through and confident we will succeed.
Ayers:
My job allows me to share the joys of getting to know great leaders around the country and experiencing great pride when they succeed, but the other side of that is experiencing deep disappointment when they fall short. Today is undeniably a disappointing day.
While I am personally disappointed in today’s revelation, I also know that it’s important for both Governor Sanford and the RGA to move forward as quickly as possible. Therefore we accepted his resignation this afternoon.
However, the RGA is fortunate that Governor Haley Barbour was in line to become RGA Chairman, a position he assumed today. As a former RNC chairman and one of the best governors in the country, no one is better positioned to takeover as RGA chairman than Governor Barbour.
Former South Carolina first lady Jenny Sanford says her ex-husband is still seeing the Argentine woman who caused the breakup of their marriage.
Jenny Sanford appeared on ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Tuesday, saying Gov. Mark Sanford has not introduced their four children to the woman he’s called his soul mate.
Gov. Sanford disappeared for five days in June 2009 and told no one where he was going. The governor came back to South Carolina and admitted to a yearlong affair with Maria Belen Chapur.
Mark Sanford said in May he spent several days in Florida with Chapur to see if they could restart their relationship. He has refused to talk about her since.
A call to Sanford’s spokesman was not immediately returned Tuesday.
See video of Jenny Sanford’s appearance on “Good Morning America” here:
Rep. Nikki Haley, R-Lexington,who garnered the most votes in the GOP gubernatorial primary gives a victory speech to supporters at the Capital City Club in Columbia, S.C., on Tuesday, June 8, 2010. Haley will face Rep. Gresham Barrett in a runoff election in two weeks for the GOP nomination. Her husband Michael, son Nalin and daughter Rana stand behind her. (AP Photo/Rich Glickstein/The State) (Credit: Rich Glickstein)
Folks, a creepy, self-promoting weirdo who nonetheless has presented evidence of, at the least, a close personal relationship with Haley, has been under relentless attack from the Haley campaign and her supporters since he went public with his claim a week before the primary election.
Haley came in first in the primary, but still faces a runoff with Gresham Barrett.
There’s also a “people in glass houses” argument that can be made with respect to this campaign. Specifically, Barrett – who has trumpeted both his Christianity and fidelity on the campaign trail – is widely-rumored to have had an affair with a former staffer. We also know for a fact that Barrett is lying through his teeth when he says that his campaign had “nothing to do” with the pressure that was placed on our founding editor to come forward last month with his acknowledgment.
So, there you have it. South Carolina politics, everyone. The candidates who aren’t cryptic, damaged accused criminals are sanctimonious Christians who constantly cheat on their spouses.
Members of Congress who live in the C Street House pay $950/month for private rooms in a $1.8 million townhouse, steps from the Capitol, with maid service and laundry included. How can the building’s owner afford such a deal? Easy — the C Street house is classified as a church.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a complaint in April. The OCE’s job is to vet complaints and refer cases to the appropriate ethics committee.
Congressmen who live in the house have been downplaying the unusual nature of the situation ever since the John Ensign and Mark Sanford scandals thrust the house into the limelight. The OCE investigation could be abandoned within 30 days or go on for three months before its taken up by the ethics committee.
Alex Pareene writes about politics for Salon. Email him at apareene@salon.com and follow him on Twitter @pareene More Alex Pareene
By the end of the day, Nikki Haley could be the Republican nominee for governor of South Carolina, running to replace the sex scandal-tarred Mark Sanford. But because this is South Carolina we’re talking about, two men have come forward to say that they had extramarital affairs with Haley. The first one released phone call logs and text messages. The second has now taken a lie detector test.
Larry Marchant, a local lobbyist and former strategist for Haley opponent (and dim-bulb bigot) Andre Bauer, says he had a one-night stand with Haley at a “school choice convention” in 2008. The local Fox affiliate applied the polygraph. The results: inconclusive:
“I can tell you if I was going to bet my next paycheck as to whether or not he was telling the truth about the allegations he has made, I would bet that sooner or later he would pass that test successfully,” says the second licensed examiner, Joseph Gallimore.
Polygraph scores range from negative to positive based on whether a subject appears to be lying or telling the truth, said Davis. A score of +4 is required to “pass” a polygraph test. Marchant scored +3 on the question of whether he had sex with Nikki Haley during a trip to Salt Lake City, as he has publicly claimed.
Yesterday — again, because this is South Carolina — Lt. Gov. Bauer himself released the results of the polygraph he took, which he said proves that he wasn’t trying to push the affair story to damage Haley. (Marchant, suspiciously, “admitted” to the indiscretion the day he was fired from the Bauer campaign, less than a week before today’s election.)
A campaign worker literally stepped in-between Michael Haley and another reporter who started asking him questions, saying Michael Haley wouldn’t do interviews even though he appeared like he was about to say something.
Haley is ahead in all recent polls, but she still might have to endure a June 22 runoff if she can’t crack 50 percent of the vote. As of yesterday, Public Policy Polling had Haley at 43 percent.
South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford talks during an interview with The Associated Press about his relationship with an Argentine mistress, in his Columbia, S.C., Statehouse office on Tuesday, June 30, 2009. During the interview Sanford said that he "crossed lines" with a handful of women other than his mistress but never had sex with them. (AP Photo/Mary Ann Chastain) (Credit: Mary Ann Chastain)
It’s one thing to just refuse to dignify rumors of sexual misconduct with a response. It’s another to deny them but then announce that you will resign the post you have not yet been elected to if, despite your denial, they turn out to be true. That is kind of weird. That’s also Nikki Haley’s new position:
Cohen: “If something comes out after you win the primary, or after you win the general election become South Carolina’s next governor, if something were to come out that validates the claims that have been made against you — in terms of stepping out on your husband and on your marriage — would you resign as governor because basically the way you’ve handled it has been an absolute, 100 percent denial? Would you resign or would it be dragged out?
Haley: “Yes.”
Cohen: “Yes you would resign?”
Haley: “Yes.”
Two people have come forward to claim that they had “inappropriate” relationships with the married Haley. One of them is a prominent local blogger and sometime political activist who’s released some supporting evidence. The other is a lobbyist who worked for one of Haley’s opponents up until the day he came forward to claim he had a one-night stand with Haley in 2008 (he has provided no evidence).
Haley has flatly denied both men’s claims. This promise lends some weight to the denial. (On the other hand — I can’t really think of a way to definitively “prove” an old affair with someone, assuming you didn’t, you know, film the affair.)
Haley benefits from the fact that her enemies are particularly unsympathetic. The blogger making the claim is a misogynist creep who’s clearly taking great pleasure in the attention he’s receiving. The Haley opponent the other guy worked for is a dim bigot. And just the other day, a South Carolina state senator used an atrocious racial slur in reference to Haley, who was born in India and raised a Sikh.
So the worse it appears to get for her, the better off she might end up being in the polls.
To ? or Not to ? 
Clean and Sober 
What are Republicans thinking? 
Freedom of religion is freedom from religion 
Reality, exploded 
Now Mitt’s refusing to debate 
Hollywood’s real-life night at the museum 
Mitt’s ticking Maine time bomb? 
The 196 people who will choose our next president 
The right is attacking Media Matters because it matters 
Rooting for your own kind 
Is the Iran threat an illusion? 
