State Leaders Call for Two Investigations Into Governor Sanford’s Travel

August 14, 2009 by senatormcconnell

South Carolina’s governor is back in the spotlight amid accusations of misusing state property and tax payer dollars.

“He continues to be dogged by these controversies, and rather than us moving on, here comes more stuff out,” State Senator Glenn McConnell said.

The latest controversy is over the governor’s travel. The state attorney general is asking for an investigation by the state ethics commission into whether the governor or his staff used state aircraft to travel on unofficial business. Meanwhile, the state senate’s leader, Senator Glenn McConnell, is calling for a separate investigation by the State Legislative Audit Council to look into the Department of Natural Resources. He says they were flying the governor with their planes and had no right to.

“Why was DNR being used? Those are law enforcement planes. We’ve got budget shortfalls all across state government. How does DNR have that much money that they can fly the governor around?” McConnell said.

He says the governor’s office used the D.N.R. planes 34 times without following the proper procedure of filling out an official signed document.

“What makes them think they run an air taxi service? Where are these airplanes going? Why aren’t there signed affidavits?” McConnell asked.

These are all questions McConnell wants the Legislative Audit Council to answer before state lawmakers head back to Columbia in January.

“We need this information so when we go back we can fix whatever’s broken,” McConnell said.

Governor Sanford says he’s been saving tax payer money.

“The administration has gone the extra mile in not using booking air and using a single engine plane,” Sanford said.

Meanwhile, the State Attorney General, Henry McMaster is calling for a separate investigation into whether or not the governor’s office traveled in state planes on unofficial business.

“There’s an intense interest and concern in what has become a very public question,” McMaster said.

Governor Sanford says he’s confident he’ll be cleared during the course of the investigation, implying it’s a matter of opinion.

“When we get on a plane on Thanksgiving weekend and load up the kids to come back to carol lighting, the 42nd Annual Carol Lighting here in Columbia, they said that wasn’t state business, I believe it was,” Sanford said.

Senator McConnell says his investigation into the D.N.R. plane use is not a witch hunt for the governor. He says he just wants to figure out why D.N.R. is not following the rules.

The audit council will investigate three agencies that use aircraft, D.N.R., S.L.E.D. and the Aeronautics Commission.