COLUMBIA, S.C. — A day after Gov. Mark Sanford tearfully confessed to an affair, he stayed out of sight Thursday -- raising his head only to issue a statement that he'd repay South Carolina for the cost of one of his visits to see his Argentine lover.
In the statement, Sanford said that he was "proud" of the trip, made partly to drum up business for the state, but that he "made a mistake" -- meeting with his lover, whom Argentine media have identified as Maria Belen Chapur, 43, who lives in the trendy Palermo district of Buenos Aires.
"That has raised some very legitimate concerns and questions, and as such I am going to reimburse the state for the full cost of the Argentina leg of this trip," the Republican governor said.
Otherwise, Sanford spent the day with his wife and family, aides said.
But as a former congressman who voted to impeach President Clinton in 1998, he would be familiar with the kinds of questions buzzing around this sweltering capital:
To what extent should Sanford be held accountable for his deceptions that briefly covered up his extramarital affair? Should he resign from office? Or be impeached?
And if he finishes the remaining year-plus of his term -- which he intends to do, according to a spokesman -- how could he get anything done with this hanging over him?
As with the Clinton affair, no consensus has formed here among lawmakers or their exasperated constituents.
Some liberal voters, such as bar owner Phill Blair, 28, said they hoped Sanford would step down. Blair was angry that the governor had refused to accept a portion of President Obama's stimulus package earlier this year. (Sanford was forced to take it after a legal battle.) Now, Blair said, South Carolina was in the spotlight again -- for a sex scandal. "He's pretty much embarrassed us twice in the last year," Blair said.
But a number of others, including some who disagreed with Sanford's conservative philosophy, maintained that his secret Argentine rendezvous -- which left the state and nation wondering for days where he was -- should be considered a personal matter.
"People have done way worse things than he's done, and have just gotten a slap on the hand," said liberal-leaning legal clerk Billie Green, 49.
Some of the figures expected to drive the coming scrutiny of the governor here, and some of the potential themes of their inquiry, were beginning to emerge. State Sen. John M. "Jake" Knotts Jr., a fellow Republican but a longtime foe of Sanford's, was one of the few legislators busy Thursday in the Capitol building.
