Gov. Sanford shows taste for expensive travel

updated 6:34 p.m. ET July 17, 2009

COLUMBIA, S.C. - South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford shed his fiscal conservatism on several taxpayer-funded international trips, including a South American jaunt that included time with his mistress, choosing expensive first-class or business-class seats while his aides sat in coach.

Sanford, who once criticized other state officials for costly travel, charged the state more than $37,600 for one first-class and four business-class flights overseas since November 2005, expense records show. Other state employees flew in the back of the plane at a fraction of the price, according to the documents.

The Republican governor, who balked at taking federal stimulus money after arguing it was an unwise use of taxpayer funds, charged the state $8,687 for a Delta Air Lines trip to Brazil last year that included a leg in business class, state expense records show.

That trip ended with the governor's now well-publicized visit to his Argentine mistress, Maria Belen Chapur, and marked what he says was the start of a nearly yearlong sexual affair with the woman he's called his "soul mate."

Other state employees spent less than $2,000 each on economy seats for the Brazil flight, according to the records, released by two state agencies under South Carolina's Freedom of Information Act.

Sanford has since repaid $3,300 for part of that Brazil-Argentina trip.

'Very judicious,' says spokesman
His spokesman defended the governor's state travel as "very judicious."

"He compares very favorably with previous administrations on use of the state plane, and we believe he would compare favorably on his use of other state travel as well," said spokesman Joel Sawyer, who announced Friday that he was resigning on Aug. 5. He said his departure had nothing to do with his boss's affair.

Meanwhile, state Sen. David Thomas said the legislative panel he chairs will hold hearings into whether Sanford spent state money during trysts with his mistress. Thomas said the investigation is needed even though a state criminal probe found no wrongdoing.

Thomas, a Republican from Greenville who is running for Congress, also said word of the expensive trips was troubling and may point to the need for more regulation.

Video   Trip with wife planned July 16: Sanford reportedly is taking time away from his gubernatorial duties in order to repair damage done to his marriage. MSNBC's Contessa Brewer reports. MSNBC

Sawyer said the criminal probe should be sufficient and said politics should not play a part in scrutiny.

But Sanford's habit of more costly travel at the taxpayers' expense contradicts his claim of frugality. When first running for governor in 2002, the former congressman, who once boasted of sleeping on a cot in his office to save money, blasted incumbent state officials for their expensive flights.

"This kind of lavish spending with taxpayers footing the bill just doesn't make any sense to me," Sanford said in one campaign ad. "If I become your governor, I'll fix that problem."

State Senate Minority Leader John Land recalled the criticism that candidate Sanford heaped on others.

"I reckon he's a hypocrite," the Democrat said. "He goes before the Christian right and professes to be one thing and yet his conduct is something else. He goes before the people of the state and talks about his fiscal conservatism. But yet when you see him in action, he's going first class and spending the state taxpayers' money."

In interviews earlier this month with The Associated Press, the governor said he paid his own way when visiting his mistress during a New York rendezvous last September.

Asked if he flew coach, Sanford was quick to point out his personal thrifty side. "Yeah. You remember, I am paying," he said with a laugh.

State travel records for Sanford, who took office in January 2003, are available only back to the fall of 2005, and the documents show a persistent pattern of expensive state travel.

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