South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford shows no sign of stepping down despite having spent Taxpayer money on his "exotic trips" to commit acts of Adultery, despite him refusing to accept $700 million in Stimulus money for South Carolina's failing, raggedy schools and despite the fact he left South Carolina without any without Leadership for several days, placing the state at risk in the event of a Natural Disaster or Catastrophe.
He didn't seem to have a problem depriving poor Black children of receiving an equal Education by refusing Stimulus money but he had NO problem using Taxpayer funds to see his Mistress!!
The man has lost ALL credibility yet....he feels as if he is still entitled to seek a Political career.
I know he said that he was "sorry". So let's just forget all about it and allow him to continue serving his term right? Wrong!
While I do believe in Forgiveness because as Human Beings we all need it, Forgiveness within itself does not eliminate RESPONSIBILITY.
When former Bill Clinton was being impeached for his actions (sins), Mark Sanford agreed loud and clear. Yet....now when it comes to his actions he expects South Carolina and the American people to turn the other cheek.
Why the double standard all of sudden?
Isn't that what a Hypocrite does??
Is this what is means to be a G.O.P. "Conservative"??
If he is allowed to remain in Public Office what example is he setting for the next generation?
When is the Republican Party finally going to begin living by their own harsh, almost unrealistic standards?
If the G.O.P. is serious about re-emerging as "The Party of the People" its going to have purge itself of hypocrites like Sanford, Limbaugh, Ensign, and Gov. Sarah Palin will you please sit down until you truly get your house in order too?
Those people should NOT be the face of the G.O.P., nor any other Political party.
In fact why not follow Elliot Spitzer's example?
Call us crazy if you will but the American people expect more from our Leaders, especially Political Leaders.
If your seeking to be on the Political Center Stage and your NOT ready, then....
Sit down and shut up until you clean the skeletons out of your own closet before you start digging through someone else's trash!
Gov. Sanford needs to stop behaving like a spoiled, selfish brat, always wanting his own way!
If he wanted to become a Political Star like Pres. Barack Obama, he should have counted the cost first.
Just because a person is Caucasian, comes from a Wealthy family and is Well-Educated, doesn't mean you can just do as you please in life without expecting any consequences to follow.
If Forgiveness doesn't eliminate Responsibility, Privilege shouldn't either.
Its obvious Sanford needs to resign and seek Counseling. If not then he should be impeached by the South Carolina Legislature just as Blagojevich was impeached by the Illinois Legislature.
As long as men in Political Office can do whatever they please and keep on serving without any recourse, the G.O.P. will NEVER be able to rebuild its image.
Its all about trust and Mark Sanford has betrayed the trust of the Republican Party, his Faithful wife, his children, his staff and his supporters.
In addition he should be investigated by the FBI and criminally charged because he used Taxpayer funds for personal gain.
He should also be charged with Misuse of Authority and Improper Abandonment of his Political office.
The "Southern Good Ole' Boy Network" shouldn't be allowed to come to Sanford's defense in this situation. Sanford needs to go or be impeached!
MSNBC----
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
On Wednesday, October 29, 2008, Governor Sanford testified in front of the US House Ways and Means Committee - advocating for more fiscal restraint at the federal and state levels, and arguing that the proposed second stimulus package that expands government is not the best route to economic recovery.
"Recipe for disaster"
CNN's John King talks to South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford about the Economic Stimulus package.
"Washington D.C. hurting hard-working taxpayers by piling up debt, attacking private property rights and rule of law. Governor Sanford on the Glenn Beck Show"
Rod Blagojevich still thinks he's right and should remain in Public Office.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
COLUMBIA, S.C. - It was a routine state Cabinet meeting, one with reports on declining tax revenues, the number of kids on Medicaid and an update on a drunken driving campaign.
Routine, except for the 20-plus television cameras and reporters scrunched into a tiny room in a building next to the state's Capitol. They were there to watch South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford conduct his first official meeting since making a very public — and torturous — admission that although has been married for 20 years, he'd carried on a passionate love affair with a woman in Argentina.
Sanford, it seemed, anticipated the media scrum. As he walked to the meeting down a corridor lined with camera bags, tripods and snaking power cords, he held his head high.
"Hey guys," Sanford said to the media in an even tone. "How are y'all?"
Yet the question remains: Can Sanford effectively govern, now that salacious details of the affair have come to light?
None of the 12 Cabinet members present during Friday's meeting asked Sanford about the romance. They didn't have to.
It had been the stuff of tabloid headlines and intrigue since he returned to South Carolina Wednesday after jetting off to Argentina for a secret rendezvous with his mistress.
And Sanford kicked off the meeting by apologizing to each of them as cameras clicked and reporters scribbled notes and recorded it all.
At one point, he likened his confession and future to the biblical plight of King David — and looks of nervousness and incredulity crept into the officials' faces.
Maybe they were afraid that he would launch into another emotional confession — like he did on Wednesday, when he revealed during a press conference that he had "spent the last five days of (his) life crying in Argentina." Or that he would address the purported e-mails back and forth to his lover, in which he praised her tan line and curvy hips.
But Sanford was all business.
Back to work:
"What's it all mean and where do we go from here? I have been doing a lot of soul-searching on that front," he said. "Every one of you all has specific duties to the people of South Carolina that you have to perform, and that is with or without me doing right on a given day or doing wrong at a given day, those responsibilities still exist."
The Cabinet then updated the governor on affairs of the state that he had abandoned for nearly a week while in Argentina. South Carolina, the agency heads reported, isn't doing well: Sales tax revenues are down 8 percent and the individual income tax revenue is down 16 percent. The day after he left, the state's jobless rate set a new record as the nation's third highest.
The only good news, which yielded a tension-relieving chuckle, came from Corrections Department head Jon Ozmint, who reported that cows at the prison are producing lots of manure.
"We've got folks literally fighting to come in and ... build a methane digester," he said.
Post-meeting, some cabinet members said Sanford handled himself well Friday.
"We all have things in our personal life that we don't want to shine under the spotlight," said Buck Limehouse, head of the state's transportation department. "There's nothing to be accomplished by rehashing this over and over. The needs of the people of South Carolina are more important than the personal issues."
Mark Keel, the director of the state Department of Public Safety, said neither the affair, nor the media attention, is a distraction for him.
"I've got enough to do without having to worry about these other things," he said. "I'm trying to focus on getting drunk drivers off the roads."
Yet Henry Kodama of the state Forestry Commission acknowledged it will be challenging for state officials to focus on the day-to-day business "because of the magnitude of the issue."
A lot of soul-searching:
Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer, a fellow Republican and the man who would replace Sanford for the next 18 months if he were to step down, told The Associated Press that he spoke to the governor a day earlier and "could tell he had done a lot of soul-searching."
The two, who have not been allies and don't run on the same ticket, didn't discuss the possibility of the governor stepping down. Bauer said he wasn't immediately calling for a resignation.
"Mark Sanford is still my governor and regardless of what his decision is, I'm going to stand by and try to help him," Bauer said.
Others were more forceful. State Sen. Jake Knotts, R-West Columbia, encouraged other legislators to call for Sanford's resignation and urged him to "do the right thing" and step down voluntarily.
And the drumbeat grew. The head of the group that's pushed Sanford's school choice effort called for him to resign. If Republicans are going to criticize Democrats for moral failings, Sanford has to go, said Randy Page, president of the conservative advocacy group South Carolinians for Responsible Government.
Illinois House Votes To Impeach Gov. Rod Blagojevich
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - The Illinois House voted overwhelmingly Friday to impeach Gov. Rod Blagojevich, setting up an unprecedented trial in the state Senate on whether he should be thrown out for abuse of power, including allegations that he tried to sell President-elect Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat.
The governor responded with what has become trademark defiance since he arrested on federal charges a month ago. He accused the House of retaliating against him for trying to help the people of Illinois and said he's confident he'll be "properly exonerated" at a Senate trial.
"The causes of the impeachment are because I've done things to fight for families," said Blagojevich, who was joined by some beneficiaries of his health programs during a news conference in Chicago.
Blagojevich dismissed the impeachment as inevitable from a House that has resisted his efforts to help real people instead of "special interests and lobbyists."
"The House's action today wasn't a surprise," said Blagojevich. "From the moment of my re-election, I've been engaged in a struggle with the House."
He ended the news conference by quoting a poem from "Ulysses" by Lord Alfred Tennyson, ending with: "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."
Blagojevich had been out jogging in his Chicago neighborhood when the House vote came down. Impeachment required just 60 votes. The final tally was 114-1.
Freak show:
Legislators accused the Democratic governor of betraying the public trust by letting ego and ambition drive his decisions.
"It's our duty to clean up the mess and stop the freak show that's become Illinois government," said Rep. Jack Franks, D-Woodstock.
Blagojevich is the first governor impeached in Illinois' long and often sordid political history. He could become only the eighth U.S. governor to be impeached and removed from office; the last was Arizona's Evan Mecham in 1988.
Blagojevich was arrested Dec. 9 on federal charges that include allegations he schemed to profit from his power to name President-elect Barack Obama's replacement in the Senate. The criminal complaint included an FBI agent's sworn affidavit describing wiretaps that caught Blagojevich allegedly talking about what he could get for the seat, how to pressure people into making campaign contributions and more.
Burris ruling:
The man the governor ultimately picked for the Senate job got some good news Friday. The Illinois Supreme Court said Roland Burris' appointment is valid under state law even though Secretary of State Jesse White had refused to sign it.
Burris, a former state attorney general who is not accused of wrongdoing, was turned away from the Senate this week, in part because his appointment lacked White's signature, but once-strident Senate opposition to accepting him has cooled.
Burris said Friday that he expects to be seated soon. Senate leaders didn't immediately comment Friday but previously said they wanted the issue over White's signature settled and for Burris to testify before a special state House committee considering Blagojevich's impeachment, which he did Thursday.
The committee on Thursday unanimously recommended impeachment based on the criminal charges but other allegations as well — that Blagojevich expanded a health care program without proper authority, that he circumvented hiring laws to give jobs to political allies, that he spent millions of dollars on foreign flu vaccine that he knew wasn't needed and couldn't be brought into the country.
Blagojevich has denied the criminal charges. He criticized the House impeachment process but didn't testify before the committee and hasn't offered an explanation for the federal charges.
"His silence in this grave matter is deafening," said House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie, D-Chicago.
Silent defense
During the House's 90-minute debate, no one spoke up to defend the governor. But Rep. Milton Patterson, D-Chicago, voted against impeachment. Rep. Elga Jefferies, D-Chicago, voted "present."
Patterson said he wasn't defending anyone, but that he read the impeachment committee's report and wasn't comfortable voting against the governor.
"I went by my own gut feeling, it's as simple as that," he said. "I read the report. If the government is going to indict him, let them go ahead and do that. That's their job and I'm doing my job."
The nearly unanimous vote reflects Blagojevich's rocky relationship with lawmakers, the political reality that supporting him now is likely to be unpopular and a genuine fury over his conduct.
Rep. Susana Mendoza, D-Chicago, noted the federal allegation that Blagojevich threatened to withhold state funds for children's health care unless he got a campaign donation from a hospital executive.
"Repugnant is too kind a word to describe that action," she said.
Three men who served as Illinois governor since the late 1960s went to prison after they left office, including Blagojevich's immediate predecessor, George Ryan, who is now behind bars. But Blagojevich is the first to be impeached.
The Illinois Constitution lays out no standard of proof to be met for removing an impeached governor, other than that senators must "do justice according to law."
The Illinois Senate is working to draft rules for a trial, which could begin as early as next week. The chief justice of the Illinois Supreme Court will preside over the proceedings.
View Larger Map
Sources: MSNBC, Youtube, WBEZ, Google Maps
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment