South Carolina: Here We Go Again!

If you follow South Carolina politics at all, you know they can be bizarre.  We’re famous for it.

Well, here we go again.

For my non-South Carolina readers, a quick recap:  I live in the congressional district (gerrymandered to a bright red) where the governor recently appointed our Rep. Tim Scott to fill a vacant Senate seat.

That left Scott’s seat open, and 16 people filed for the job, 14 of them Republicans.  When the Republican primary’s vote was counted, the leading candidate had 37 percent of the vote, and his closest opponent only had about a  third as many -- 13 percent.  

That’s where the here-we-go-again comes in. The leading candidate was our former governor, Mark Sanford -- yes, that Mark Sanford, the one who told us he was going hiking on the Appalachian Trail when in fact he was flying to Argentina to see his girlfriend.  He even tried to send us taxpayers the bill. 

He betrayed his wife, his family, his friends, his office and his constituents -- including me.  And although he wasn’t charged with a crime, he was forced to pay the highest fine for ethical violations in the history of South Carolina.

He has apologized, but his apology rings hollow, as if he’s sorry he got caught, not sorry he cheated us.  For instance, after he decided to run for Congress, he had the gall to ask his ex-wife -- the one he had just divorced so he could marry his Argentine woman --  to run his campaign.  (She declined.) 

And yet, more than a third of those who voted in the Republican primary trust him to be their congressman.

Amazing.

-Skip