Lt. Governor: Time To Go Governor Sanford

I called for this a couple weeks back. Now, the top lietenant to Governor Sanford is calling for him to resign.

South Carolina Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer on Wednesday called for embattled Gov.
Mark Sanford to step down, saying the state has been crippled by questions over
the legality of the governor's travel, which included trips to visit his
mistress.

At a Wednesday news conference, Bauer said if Sanford resigns, he will renew his offer to stay out of the 2010 gubernatorial race. Sanford's term ends in January 2011.

Bauer says he tried to give the governor the benefit of the doubt after he admitted to having an affair. But the lieutenant governor says he worries calls for Sanford's impeachment will dominate next year's legislative session, instead of issues like the economy and job creation.

Sanford's office declined to comment on the latest development but said it will issue a statement later Wednesday.

It's important to point out that Bauer is running for Governor in 2010. He says that if he replaces Sanford to finish the term he will drop out of the race. So, this is a very firm statement. This shows just how much of a liability Sanford has become. In Illinois, Pat Quinn quickly called on Rod Blagojevich to step aside when he was arrested on corruption charges. Though, Quinn didn't go so far as to take himself out of competition to be elected when he called on Blagojevich to resign. That Bauer is willing to sacrifice his own political future shows just how much of a problem Sanford has become.

At the same time, by dropping out, this makes current AG, Henry McMasters, the front runner for Governor in 2010. I believe that I have implicated McMasters in serious corruption so Bauer dropping out may wind up being bad in the long run.

Sanford has announced that he will have a press conference in the next hour to address the news.

UPDATE:

Governor Sanford just held his press conference. He refuses to step down and called calls for him to step down "political" in nature. He didn't expand on this thought. That's important because Bauer called for him to step down. That's his own Lt. Governor and he has assured that he would not run if he took over. So, it's hard to see how it's political.

He addressed the issues surrounding alleged misuse of tax payer funds in extravagant flights. Sanford said that his administration has booked exactly zero flights that were inappropriate. Then, he went on to accuse most of the rest of the politicians of misusing tax payer funds. That of course raises a question as to why, if politicians were systematicaly misusing tax payer funds, there is no investigations of this systemic corruption.

Sanford proclaimed that he won't step down because he still has plenty of agenda to enact. This is wishful thinking. He's not going to get anything done if he stays governor. That's why I believe he needs to step down. For now, he's digging his heels in and the soap opera continues.