Missing S.C. Gov. Sanford tracked down at Hartsfield
June 24, 2009 at 1:10 pm by Scott Henry in News
Hiding out in the woods?
UPDATE: File under “duh.” Sanford initially said he flew to Buenos Aires because he wanted “to do something exotic.” Now we know he wanted to do someone exotic. Yes — surprise! — he’s admitted he went to meet up with his mistress.
As former CL intern Casey McIntyre observes on his Facebook page: “In defense of Sanford’s staffers, ‘Hiking the Appalachian Trail’ does sound a lot like ‘Hunting for Argentinian Tail.’ Perhaps they just misheard him.”
Up until now, Sanford was best known for trying unsuccessfully to deny his state $700 million in Obama-bucks. Now we know the guy has nothing against a little stimulus.
Yesterday, this blog reported that South Carolina officials said the state’s missing governor had decided to go “hiking along the Appalachian Trail” for five days without telling anyone.
Well, it turns out that was a bit of a fib.
Not only does it now appear that Gov. Mark Sanford had left his state, but he’d left the Northern Hemisphere entirely — and, as the old joke goes, he had to change planes in Atlanta. The AWOL Republican was spotted this morning at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport by reporters for The State, S.C.’s largest newspaper, getting off of a flight from Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Sanford said he decided at the last minute to go to the South American country to recharge after a difficult legislative session in which he battled with lawmakers over how to spend federal stimulus money.
And, just to reassure the wife, who also had no clue as to his whereabouts:
Sanford said he was alone on the trip. He declined to give any additional details about what he did other than to say he drove along the coastline.
Yeah, I’m sure that’s exactly what he did. It’s incredible how relaxing a few days of, um, coastline-driving can be.
But wait. It seems this isn’t Sanford’s first unexplained disappearance. CNN reports that he’s gone missing before, usually for a few hours at night — behind the wheel of a South Carolina Law Enforcement Division vehicle.
Sanford has scheduled a news conference for 2 p.m. today at his office in Columbia. That boy’s got a lot of ’splainin’ to do!
(Photo courtesy South Carolina Governor’s Office)
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