S.C. first lady: I’m angry but can forgive him

updated 5:38 p.m. ET July 2, 2009

COLUMBIA, S.C. - South Carolina's first lady said Gov. Mark Sanford's actions were "inexcusable" but she was willing to forgive him.

Jenny Sanford on Thursday made her first public statement since her husband revealed in Associated Press interviews that he believed his Argentine mistress was his soul mate but he was trying to fall back in love with his wife.

In her statement, Jenny Sanford said it is up to her husband to save their 20-year marriage. She said she was still angry with him and he would deal with the consequences of his actions for a long while.

Mark Sanford must regain the trust of his family and the people of South Carolina, but his wife made no guarantee he will be able to do it, the first lady said.

The governor plans to leave Friday morning to spend the holiday weekend with his wife and four sons in Florida.

In a statement, Sanford also reiterated that he will not resign or leave the governor's office temporarily.

In an interview with The Associated Press this week, Sanford said a woman he visited last month in Argentina was his soul mate, but he was trying to fall back in love with his wife.

'Details of his love life'
South Carolina residents — and the simply curious around the world — have watched Sanford's lovelorn saga unfold, the central character spewing an odd script that would seem more appropriate for a soap opera than state government.

Top South Carolina Republicans and at least a half-dozen newspapers are calling for his resignation. Constituents are scratching their heads at their governor's soul-bearing declarations that he considers his Argentine mistress his "soul mate" but is trying to salvage his 20-year marriage.

"I just think he needs to shut up," said Democratic Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, a social worker and one of the few lawmakers not calling for his resignation. "I don't want any more details of his love life. He needs to stop being public with his angst and talk to a counselor."

Sanford is hunkering down as he wraps up his second and last term as governor. The 49-year-old Republican refused to release promised personal financial records to the media to show he hadn't used public money to fund trips to see his mistress, Maria Belen Chapur, in New York and Argentina.

Sanford used no taxpayer money to see his mistress during two visits to her country and three meetings in New York, South Carolina law enforcement agents said Thursday.

AP file Argentine Maria Belen Chapur speaks during a C5N TV broadcast.

But Mark Sanford did bring two personal checks totaling $3,300 to the state treasurer as reimbursement for part of a taxpayer-funded trip to South America last year. The money covered lodging, meals and airfare to Buenos Aires, where he saw Chapur.

Over the previous two days, he had chronicled his affair and tortured emotions in interviews with The Associated Press. Those came less than a week after he returned from a secret visit to Argentina and confessed his affair at a tearful, rambling press conference. His staff had claimed he was hiking the Appalachian Trail.

His spokesman issued a statement Wednesday saying there's nothing left to say.

"He is focused on being governor, on rebuilding his marriage and on building back the trust of South Carolinians," spokesman Joel Sawyer said.

'I think he's bizarre'
In the AP interviews, Sanford laid out his thoughts and feelings in sometimes lurid or odd detail. For example: He said close Christian friends advised him to end the affair immediately and used graphic, figurative terms on how to do so — "the first step is, you shoot her. You put a bullet through her head," he said.

The words were not meant literally, but reveal how dramatically Sanford described the saga.

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