Growing Calls for Sanford to Resign
After a revealing interview with the Associated Press Tuesday, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford is facing tougher critics than ever.
On Wednesday, word came that 12 of 27 state senators and six South Carolina newspapers are calling upon the governor to resign following his mysterious disappearance and revelations of adultery. Even the Greenville News revoked its statement supporting the governor after the interview.
"Gov. Mark Sanford should resign immediately and allow South Carolina to begin picking up the pieces. The two-term governor has destroyed any shred of credibility with his lies unnecessarily added on top of other lies. His ability to govern this state has been compromised so severely that he cannot fulfill the duties required of this state's governor until a successor takes the oath of office in January 2011," the paper wrote.
Seven U.S. senators, meanwile, issued a letter Tuesday demanding he leave office, The New York Daily News reports.
"The bottom line is that the Governor's private matters should remain private," they wrote. "But his deception and negligence make it impossible for us to trust him, and for him to govern in the future."
"He's dropped the flag," Sen. Jim DeMint told Fox News, as the Washington Post reports. "The rest of us have to get up and go on. . . . A lot of us are talking to him behind the scenes in hopes that he'll make the right decision about what needs to be done."
The senators also question Sanford's ability to act as the state's leader.
"They say, when you are explaining, you are losing. And particularly on that subject, I think, he was," DeMint told the Miami Herald. "I'm concerned of whether or not he is in a position that he can continue to lead the state."
A top Republican in Columbia, S.C. told the Post that while Sanford is holding onto power, he is further alienating many of his former supporters.
"He's digging his heels in, even though everyone's calling on him to resign now," said the source. "People that I never ever thought would go against Mark Sanford have come out against him."
The Atlantic reports that the South Carolina Democratic Party has asked Sanford to step down as well, saying that his "stream of confessions" and his behavior are distracting.
Despite the criticism, Joel Sawyer, a spokesman for Sanford, told the Daily News that the governor has no intention of resigning.
"He's determined to remain on as governor and determined to continue the work of this administration," Sawyer said.
USA Today is reporting that Sanford has withdrawn his promise to release his personal financial records to prove that he did not use state money to fund his affair.
Sawyer tells USA Today that the governor no longer wants to speak about his personal life.