Embattled S.C. Gov., Family Go to Europe

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford and his family have arrived in London for a two-week European vacation.

Television station WBTV in Charlotte reports that Sanford, his wife and four sons boarded a U.S. Airways flight bound for London's Gatwick Airport on Wednesday evening. The governor initially had said they were leaving Thursday.

According to the airline's Web site, the flight landed at 2:13 a.m. EDT Thursday.

Sanford said he's leaving for the long-planned vacation with his wife and four sons in an effort to "get some things right in the family," one month after revealing an affair with an Argentine woman he later called his "soul mate." Sanford's wife, Jenny, and their four sons returned Monday from several days away as the couple works on their marriage.

Sanford told WBTV he expects to do soul searching on the trip. He says the process of redemption and forgiveness is slow.

The governor says he will return to work Aug. 5. He says he'll be in touch with his office at least once a day.

Sanford returned from a nearly weeklong disappearance June 24 to reveal he was in Argentina with his mistress, not hiking the Appalachian Trail as his staff had believed. He apologized for misleading his staff and has been apologizing ever since. He still won't say how he could've been reached in an emergency.

The two-term Republican governor declined to say where in Europe he'll be but said this time, the State Law Enforcement Division knows his schedule "every step of the way." And he pledged to contact his office at least daily, hourly if needed, so he will not put Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer in charge during his absence.

"This is how he should take vacations," said Sen. Kevin Bryant, an Anderson Republican and former Sanford ally.

Sanford has insisted he was reachable in Argentina through "a back channel way" by an adviser, who was not his spokesman or chief of staff. Records of phone calls made on his state-issued phone and e-mails received through the Freedom of Information Act did not show that Sanford was in touch. On Wednesday, Sanford again refused to elaborate.

"That's the nature of a back channel. I'm not going backward. I've moved on. I think the state's ready to move on, and I've said everything I'm going to say and have said about Argentina," he said.

Sen. Larry Martin has said Sanford needs to explain but now believes no such arrangement existed.

"If the person had existed, he would've been contacted by that back channel person more quickly than he was. It had already hit the international wire" that he was missing, said the Pickens Republican. He questions whether the governor called in because he saw himself on the news.

"At least we know where he's going to be this time. He told us he's leaving. I hope they have a good trip," Martin said. "Hopefully, we won't miss him."

Sen. David Thomas, R-Greenville, said his first reaction to the European trip was "astonishment he didn't cancel everything to stay in state and focus on state issues, since we've all been blown away." But then he changed his mind.

"One is torn in looking at this sorry saga," said the Greenville Republican. "If he's trying to re-establish his family relationship with his wife and get everything on track again - if this is what it takes - his family should come first."

Thomas' subcommittee plans to investigate whether Sanford spent state money to facilitate his affair. The first meeting is set for Friday. While the state's top police official, Reggie Lloyd, announced a week after Sanford returned that the governor did not misuse state money for visits with his Argentine mistress, he said his agency's review relied on self-reported information from Sanford.

Sanford said he considered canceling the European trip in light of the scandal, but it was too important for his family.

"This is our last year before Marshall goes off to college," he said of his eldest, a rising senior. "Every one of them had to pay for a part of it. The boys did lemonade stands and amazingly racked in hundreds of dollars. ... So I thought about pulling the plug, because obviously critics will criticize, and I understand that for being gone next week."

The governor, who has vowed to stay in office, said a longtime friendship with Maria Belen Chapur turned into an affair during a June 2008 state commerce trip to South America. While he called Chapur his "soul mate," he has been trying to reconcile with Jenny Sanford, his wife of 20 years.

That has included spending the July Fourth weekend with her and the boys in Florida, where her parents live, and leaving with Jenny last Wednesday to an out-of-state, undisclosed location. Since leaving for Argentina, Sanford's been out of the office for just over 10 work days.

He will be gone nine additional work days before returning Aug. 5.

"Most South Carolinians have a limited number of vacation days they can take, and after that, they just can't take anymore," said state Democratic Party Chairwoman Carol Fowler. "They have to go to work no matter what serious issues are going on in their family."

But Sanford said he's on the job, even if he's not in the office.

He plans to make phone calls while in Europe to help form two committees he hopes will come up with several items he and the Legislature can accomplish in his last session. The groups, to be announced in late August, would meet through September, he said.

"Wherever you are in this role, with the obvious exception to that which has caused the stir that it has, on some level or another you're working," Sanford said. "Jenny's oftentimes joked that if you add up the hours, I'm working for less than minimum wage."

Another important function of the trip, he said, is to "get the boys out of worrying about reading about dad in the newspaper or what somebody has to say about him on the news, so I think it will be healthy for us."