SC governor set to return from unexplained absence

[June 24, 2009]  COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford was expected back at work Wednesday after a five-day absence for what aides said was a hiking trip that turned into more of a fuss than he ever expected.

They said Sanford cut short his vacation on the Appalachian Trail when news broke he'd been out of touch for four days, raising questions of just who was running the state.

The governor's spokesman, Joel Sawyer, said Sanford wanted to get away to clear his head after the legislative session, during which he lost a key battle.

But no one could accuse him of taking his work with him: Sanford left Thursday and his staff didn't hear from until Tuesday morning.

First lady Jenny Sanford told reporters she had no idea where the father of her four children went during Father's Day weekend. And one state legislator was ready to rewrite state law to make sure governors pass their power on when they go incommunicado.

The Democratic National Committee rushed out an Internet video, "Where's Sanford?" It featured news clips questioning the judgment of a Republican governor whose national notoriety has been boosted by his unsuccessful fight to refuse federal stimulus dollars for anything other than paying down debt.

Sawyer said Sanford was stunned by the attention.

Critics of the two-term Republican -- and there are many -- wondered why it took nine hours after reporters started asking questions for the governor's staff to say what the state's chief executive was doing.

Sanford's aides stopped answering questions about his trip, including where he was on the 2,175-mile trail, whether he was with security and if anyone else could confirm his whereabouts.

Republican state Sen. Jake Knotts started asking questions Monday about a rumor that Sanford had disappeared in a state law enforcement vehicle.

His wife, Jenny, told The Associated Press on Monday that he needed time away from his four sons to write. For hours, his staff would only say he was vacationing.

Jenny Sanford said at the family's beach house Tuesday: "Leave us to our privacy."

Sanford, a trim, 49-year-old former real estate investor and Air Force reservist, is typically drained at the end of a legislative session, former aides said. State Sen. Tom Davis, a Beaufort Republican and Sanford's former chief of staff, said he visited with Sanford last Wednesday and could tell the governor was ready for a break.

"It's not unusual to take off and kind of be by himself," Davis said. "It's part of what makes him him."

The governor has long been known as a loner -- bucking GOP leadership during three U.S. House terms and casting the only dissenting vote on Medicaid coverage for some breast and cervical cancer treatment. He clashes often with the Republicans who control both chambers of his state Legislature, once famously carrying two piglets to the door of the House in opposition to what he said was pork-barrel spending.

But past vacations never left Sanford completely out of touch, said Chris Drummond, Sanford's former spokesman. At worst, Sanford would call in daily or would respond to voice mails.

Who was in charge became the political and practical question.

Essentially, Sanford's staffers said they'd decide who to call if an emergency popped up and the governor couldn't be reached. The state's constitution says a temporary absence would give the lieutenant governor full authority in the state. But the temporary absence has never been defined.

Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, a Charleston Republican, said the state's law needs to be clarified. He said state residents want important decisions to be made by elected leaders.

"In an emergency," he said, "it should be those people who consult with staff to make a decision and not the other way around."

[Associated Press; BY JIM DAVENPORT]

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