Censure

After a 3 hour marathon meeting, the South Carolina Republican party leadership voted to officially admonish, or censure, GOP Governor Mark Sanford over his affair with his Argentine mistress Maria Belen Chapur. The party stopped short of asking him for his resignation but, nevertheless, formally reprimanded the married governor for his infidelity and the fallout over his South American trips to visit her. This is the first time in history that the South Carolina Republican party has voted to censure an elected party official.

A party insider, who was part of the meeting, tells Fox, that it took 4 ballots by the executive committee of the South Carolina GOP to finally get the end result. There was a division between three camps: pro-censure, pro-resignation, and those who did not want the party to provide a public stance. Finally, 22 members of the executive committee voted to censure, ten others voted to ask for him to step down, while nine voted for the third option. " Hopefully, we can move on," a SC GOP leader said, " And this will close the Mark Sanford chapter of wrongdoing." "The governor fully appreciates the party's position," said Joel Sawyer, spokesman for Sanford, in an emailed statement." And he fully intends to work diligently to earn back its trust."