South Carolina governor Mark Sanford’s disappearing act just keeps getting stranger and stranger. Let’s count the evolving stories:
1) Sanford is missing and not even his wife knows where he is, but she’s not worried because he’s writing
2) Sanford’s cell phone is last located in Atlanta
3) Sanford’s aides say they talked to him, but then walked it back because they hadn’t actually
4) Sanford’s spokesman says Sanford is hiking on the Appalachian trail and that he’s been doing that all along. People note that although the Appalachian trail begins in NW Georgia, it’s not the most logical place to begin for a person who lives in South Carolina.
5) today – Sanford’s spokesman says that they’ve spoken to him and he’s surprised by the interest of the media
Well, here’s the latest. Criticism of the governor keeps building. The state’s lt. govenor (also a Republican) notes that he was not informed of Sanford’s plans and that there could be situations when they need to get a quick decision (a prison riot, for example, is mentioned). Other critics also weigh in about the governor’s habit of disappearing. Reporters also note that Stanford, who is married with 4 young sons, went incognito over Father’s Day weekend and his wife states that she still hasn’t talked to him. Now even the Appalachian trail story is falling apart – a federal agents says that Sanford’s state vehicle was at the Atlanta airport and Sanford was spotted there as well.
On Tuesday, sources told News 4’s Nigel Robertson that a state vehicle is missing and was tracked down, not to the Appalachian Trail, but to the Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in Atlanta.
Sources told Robertson that a federal agent spotted Sanford in the airport boarding a plane. Robertson was told that the governor was not accompanied by security detail.
Oh what a tangled web we weave…