Sanford, ex-wife settle trespassing case
Representative-elect Mark Sanford, R-S.C., who won a congressional seat in a South Carolina special election on Tuesday, was given another reason to celebrate on Wednesday: He and his ex-wife Jenny Sanford settled a trespassing case out of court, Sanford's spokesman Joel Sawyer confirmed to CBS News.
Both sides of the complaint reached an agreement and will not have to go to court, the Charleston County Family Court judge's office said.
The trespassing charges stemmed from an incident in February, when Sanford was caught by his ex-wife at her home on Sullivan's Island, an apparent violation of the terms of their divorce.
Mark Sanford explained that he was there to watch the Super Bowl with his son, and that he tried to contact Jenny Sanford but was unable to do so. His ex-wife caught him as he was leaving the home via the back door and subsequently filed a trespassing complaint.
The complaint was publicized in the heat of Sanford's race against Democrat Elizabeth Colbert-Busch, briefly appearing to threaten the former governor's campaign.
Despite the snafu, which compelled the National Republican Congressional Committee to pull funding from Sanford's campaign, Sanford was elected to Congress by a healthy margin in Tuesday's special election.
Sanford, a former governor of the Palmetto State between 2003 and 2011, was once considered a rising star in the Republican Party before his tenure as governor was marred in 2009 by the revelation of an extramarital affair. Sanford left the state for several days in June 2009 and could not be contacted, telling his staff he was hiking the Appalachian Trail. When he returned, he confessed that he was visiting his mistress in Argentina, Maria Belen Chapur, to whom he is now engaged.