Gov. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) used a state airplane for personal and family business, the AP is reporting.
State law requires the governor to only use his plane for official business, but Sanford reportedly flew to his children’s sporting events, to get his hair cut, and to go to political events.
Sanford has made a career of fiscal prudence. (He even made his children raise money to pay for their portion of a family vacation.) So if this report is true, Sanford will face an additional round of charges that he’s acted hypocritically on issues fundamental to his political character.
Records reviewed by the AP show that since he took office in 2003, the two-term Republican has taken trips on state aircraft to locations of his children’s sporting events, hair and dentist appointments, political party gatherings and a birthday party for a campaign donor.
On March 10, 2006, a state plane was sent to pick up Sanford in Myrtle Beach and return him to Columbia, the state capital, at a cost of $1,265 – when his calendar showed his only appointment in Columbia was “personal time” at his favorite discount hair salon. He had flown to Myrtle Beach on a private plane and attended a county GOP event.
The trip home on the state aircraft took off at 1:50 p.m. and arrived in Columbia at 2:35, enabling the governor to keep his plans for a 3 p.m. haircut across town. There were no other appointments on his official schedule that afternoon; the trip back to Columbia would have taken about three hours by car.
Also, on five of the last six Thanksgiving weekends, Sanford used a state plane to fly himself, his wife and their four sons from the family’s plantation in Beaufort County to Columbia for the state Christmas tree lighting. The cost for those flights alone: $5,536, including $2,869 for flying the plane empty to pick them up.