Sanford's little lie masks a much bigger one

ANALYSIS

updated 3:53 p.m. ET June 25, 2009

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Six bronze stars punctuate the smooth granite walls of the copper-domed State House. Each marks a scar left by the cannons of invading Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman's bombardment of the capital in the final months of the Civil War.

By last Thursday, Gov. Mark Sanford was feeling much like the building in which he had held sway for the past seven years — battered and bruised.

Two days earlier, on June 16, an override of Sanford's veto of new regulations on the payday lending industry capped what had been an especially grueling legislative session. Earlier in the month, he had lost a court battle over what he thought was a state's right to refuse $700 million in federal stimulus money.

To friends and aides, it was clear the governor needed a break.

On that Thursday morning, a black Chevy Suburban outfitted with blue police lights pulled up outside the governor's mansion — a white stucco antebellum building with a low parapet that once served as the officers' quarters for the Arsenal Military Academy. Into the back seat, Sanford tossed a sleeping bag, a pair of running shoes, a ball cap, a canvas bag and a pair of green hiking shorts.

Sanford was an Eagle Scout. So when he made a vague reference to staff about hiking on the Appalachian Trail, no one had reason to doubt him.

But if the governor were really going hiking, why would he need his passport?

In truth, Sanford had already strayed from the path. The hiking story was just the latest little lie in a yearlong campaign to cover up an even bigger one.

Mysterious disappearance
Marshall C. Sanford Jr. is about as lame as a lame-duck governor can be. Term-limited and marginalized by opponents within his own party, the 49-year-old Republican was essentially waiting out his last 18 months in office as people speculated about his presidential prospects in 2012.

Sanford had been known to take off after a legislative session, to decompress and escape what he calls "the bubble" of life in the capital. So it wasn't surprising that it took until Monday for his absence to become conspicuous.

That morning, a source suggested that an Associated Press reporter call Republican state Sen. Jake Knotts and ask about the governor's whereabouts. Knotts told the AP that no one had seen or heard from Sanford since the previous Thursday.

That afternoon, the AP asked Sanford's staff if anyone had heard from the governor. The answer was no.

No phone calls.

No e-mails.

No text messages.

Loui Krasky / AP This 2002 file photo shows Jenny Sanford at the family's home on Sullivans Island, S.C.

Around 1 p.m., the AP called Jenny Sanford, the governor's wife of nearly 20 years and the force behind most of his congressional and gubernatorial campaigns.

"He was writing something and wanted some space to get away from the kids," she said from the family's beach house on Sullivan's Island.

Mrs. Sanford said she had no idea where her husband was, but insisted that she was unconcerned. Others did not share her sentiments.

In response to media inquiries, Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer released a statement.

"Gov. Sanford is taking some time away from the office this week to recharge after the stimulus battle and the legislative session, and to work on a couple of projects that have fallen by the wayside," read the statement, sent around 2:30 p.m. "We are not going to discuss the specifics of his travel arrangements or his security arrangements."

Father's Day absence
Later that day, Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer's office said Sanford's staff claimed the governor had been in contact with chief of staff Scott English. But the governor's office backtracked on that, saying there had been no communication.

Video   Can Sanford survive the scandal? June 25: Can the S.C. governor survive this scandal? A political panel discusses. MSNBC

"I cannot take lightly that his staff has not had communication with him for more than four days, and that no one, including his own family, knows his whereabouts," said Bauer, a Republican whose relationship with Sanford is generally cool, but who has been spare in his criticism of the governor during their two terms in office together.

To some, leaving the state essentially rudderless was not the worst part of it. A man who seemed to always put family first had been absent from sons Marshall, Landon, Bolton and Blake on Father's Day.

"It's one thing for the boys to go off by themselves, but on Father's Day to leave your family behind? That's erratic," said Senate Minority Leader John Land, a Democrat.

Things seemed to abate Monday night when Sawyer said the governor was hiking the Appalachian Trail. But the quiet didn't last long.