Should Governor Mark Sanford Be Impeached?

All over America there is a hue and cry about Mark Sanford and his sex life. The governor of South Carolina disappeared for a week, ostensibly hiking the Appalachian Trail, when in reality he was in Argentina getting his thang on with his mistress.

We Americans are fascinated with the sex lives of our politicians and celebrities. Let somebody catch a glimpse or a hint of a kiss or a naked breast and we're screaming for blood. Puritans, the lot of us.

I have been privy to conversations this last week wherein people are demanding that Sanford either resign or be impeached because of his moral shortcomings. But are moral shortcomings a valid reason for impeachment?

Former President Bill Clinton was impeached due to a sex scandal, but it wasn't the sexual acts that got him impeached, it was the lying under oath that did it for him. Had he sat there and said "Why, yes, I did have sexual relations with that woman!" the country would have been spared the details of just how Monica Lewinsky smoked his cigar. Instead he chose to lie about it, and well, you know the rest of that story.

Governor Sanford broke no laws in going to Argentina to spend a week with his paramour. He displayed very poor judgement, absolutely, particularly in leaving the ship of state without its captain and with no way for staffers to reach him in the case of an emergency, but this, like sleeping around, is not a crime or a misdemeanor. And one can only be impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors.

Many people think that Sanford used state funds to carry on his illicit romance, but they are wrong. The law enforcement agencies in South Carolina went on record on July 1, stating that the governor didn't use state funds to carry out his affair, and that he in fact reimbursed the state for some travel funds that he was not required to pay back. To those thinking that the law enforcement officers who made this statement feared possibly for their jobs, the officers pointed out in their press conference that the governor has no power over the hiring and firing in their agency.

This leaves adultery as the only possible crime or misdemeanor that would make the governor's sleeping around an impeachable offense. It is a misdemeanor in the state of South Carolina to commit adultery or fornication. However, the adultery did not occur within the state's jurisdiction, therefore they cannot prosecute Governor Sanford for it, just like the state of Georgia can't give me a traffic citation for speeding in the state of Texas.

Should the governor be impeached? No. He committed no crime, no misdemeanor.

Should he resign from office? That's a whole different kettle of fish, and I will go on record here as stating that if he should resign, so should the vast majority of the rest of the politicians in this great nation, as it seems like every time we turn around we are hearing about their sexual peccadilloes, right down to their preferred sexual activities.

For the record, this writer has never liked Mark Sanford. However, if he's to be removed from office, it must be done properly, via either his willing resignation or via a recall election such as California used with former Governor Gray Davis.

Any other action would be undemocratic and unAmerican.