Attorney General Henry McMaster said the governor's use of pricey airline tickets, travel to personal and political events on state aircraft and questionable campaign reimbursements had not risen to a criminal level.

"Those punishments are sufficient," McMaster said Monday, referring to Sanford's civil ethics charges and censure by state lawmakers. "The time has come for our state to put this controversy behind us and move on."

Sanford said he hoped the state could now move on from what he admitted were his own shortcomings.

"While I've acknowledged repeatedly my own moral failing in this matter, we feel confirmed in our consistent belief that this administration has always been a stalwart defender of the taxpayer," Sanford said in a statement.

McMaster for months had been reviewing a probe by the State Ethics Commission that started after a series of Associated Press investigations were published about Sanford's use of state, private and commercial planes. The state probe led to 37 charges and $74,000 in civil fines that Sanford paid in March.

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