DEBORAH AMOS, Host:
This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Deborah Amos.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
And I'm Steve Inskeep. South Carolina's legislature begins its session today, and one item on the agenda is punishment for the governor. Republican Mark Sanford, you may recall, disappeared for five days last June. He led his staff to believe that he was hiking the Appalachian Trail, but later admitted he was visiting his mistress in Argentina. NPR's Adam Hochberg reports on what lawmakers have in mind now.
ADAM HOCHBERG: The proposed censure says Governor Sanford was derelict in his duties and brought dishonor, disgrace and shame upon his state. But despite that strong language, the resolution in many ways is a victory for the governor, because the legislature could've done much more. Back in the summer, when Sanford first confessed to his secret rendezvous with the woman he called his soulmate, legislative leaders talked seriously about impeaching him. Instead, Sanford is likely to escape with, at most, an ornately worded slap on the wrist.
AMOS: What you had was a situation in South Carolina where the sun, the moon and the stars all lined up on his behalf.
HOCHBERG: Todd Rutherford is a Democratic House member who was pushing for impeachment, but he says legislators had little appetite for a contentious debate in an election year, especially since Sanford will be leaving office next January, anyway. And he says Sanford was fortunate that the affair became public after last year's legislative session ended.
AMOS: We had no money in the state, so we couldn't convene a special session, because it cost the state too much in order to fund that. And time is simply past. People are tired of it. They don't want to deal with it. And so he is getting away with it.
HOCHBERG: Indeed. At the capitol yesterday, as legislators returned for this year's session, some spoke of what they called Sanford fatigue. Most members of the Republican-controlled legislature are taking their leave from a bipartisan House committee, which investigated Sanford's secret trip, as well as allegations that he violated state travel rules on other occasions. Committee member James Smith condemned Sanford for leaving the state without notice, but says it's not an impeachable offense.
AMOS: The collective wisdom of the committee was that it didn't rise to serious misconduct and that in the best interest of the state, that we put this behind us and get to focus on improving the lives of the people in South Carolina.
HOCHBERG: Smith says the House likely will pass the censure resolution this week. But it's less clear what will happen in the Senate. While leaders there also are eager to take it up quickly, a handful of Sanford's critics are threatening to stretch things out by demanding a new investigation. Republican Jake Knotts argues that a hasty vote will empower the governor.
AMOS: If we rubber-stamped the censorship, it would be over and done with, and what would keep him from saying, hey, it's over. I can go to Argentina anytime I want to now.
HOCHBERG: Governor Sanford declined an interview request and has said little about his personal situation lately, a marked difference from the summer when his awkward declarations of love for his mistress induced cringes in South Carolina and beyond. Speaking with reporters in November, Sanford seemed ready to move on.
HOCHBERG: What we're going to keep working on is a legislative agenda that I think will have real consequence and ripples going forward if we're able to enact it and really focus on the job at hand between now and 13 months from now when things wrap up for me.
HOCHBERG: Adam Hochberg, NPR News, Columbia, South Carolina.