As the revelations of Governor Mark Sanford’s affair with a woman from Argentina were revealed Wednesday afternoon, Chairman of the South Carolina Legislative Black Caucus David Weeks says he was shocked by the news.  Sumter County State Representative Weeks says during the days leading up to the Governor’s press conference when many questioned the true whereabouts of the Governor indicates that the General Assembly early in the next legislative session must develop legislation that clearly spells out who is in charge of the state’s executive branch if the Governor can’t be reached for what ever reason or if he is incapacitated. Weeks acknowledges that the state may be viewed negatively by some persons across the country because a nation views a state by whom the people pick as its leaders and failing by leadership can place a state in a bad light.”Mark Sanford is a very divisive character and always has been, because he stands on his principles and those principles, in my opinion, are not in line with mainstream South Carolina. Yet he is th elected chief executive.”

Weeks says it’s hard to separate private lives of prominent politicians from the public, but we should all remember that this is about a family and his prayers go out to the Sanfords as they try to work through this matter.

Weeks says as the shock of the news of the Governor’s infidelity wears off, some tough, important questions must be asked and answered. “i think after awhile when things sort of die down when the followup questions are asked, and this is the key, whether or not there has been any public monies spent in these junkets to Argentina and that’s when you start really getting into the meat of this thing.”

Governor Sanford’s office reports that Sanford paid for his trip to Argentina last week. Sanford also visited Argentina a year ago as part of a state-funded trade mission.

Weeks says he has serious doubts whether Sanford can continue to function as the state’s chief executive. “The chief executive of this state is an ambassador for economic development, is the person who oversees the overall day-to-day function and operations of government, and I just think he certainly has wounded himself a great deal with this particular incident and that it’s going to be very difficult for him to govern effectively.”

Weeks says it is too early to speculate about possible impeachment proceedings, but the possibility can’t be totally dismissed at this point in time. ” i don’t know at this point. I think that it is always a possibility, but there are still so many unanswered questions at this point. I think if you ask me that same question a week from today, my own perspectives may be very different because I think there going to be several things that may come out over the next couple of days that may shed some light on that.”

Speaker Bobby Harrell

House Speaker Bobby Harrell reacts to Governor Mark Sanford’s recent announcement of an affair with an Argentine woman. “I’m saddened and disappointed to hear it. I’m shocked to hear it. I’ve known Mark for a number of years and didn’t expect anything like this,” says Harrell.

Harrell says the question here for the people of South Carolina isn’t the affair, it’s a question of power.

“The issue for the state is the fact that we had our governor out of touch for five days and no one was in charge executive during that period of time. So, our concern is that if that ever happened again and we had a tornado or earthquake, we could end up in a pretty bad situation without a chief executive,” says Harrell.

As for the General Assembly, Harrell says Sanford’s absence has brought to light some questions.

“The chain of command, the order of succession and making sure that if a governor ever leaves like this again, we have a program in place so that we know that we have somebody in charge of the executive branch of the government at that time,” says Harrell.

Harrell says it’s not up to him if the governor should resign.

“It’s up to Mark. I think he has to make a decision on whether or not he can effectively lead the state. Once he’s made that determination, then he needs to do whatever he thinks is the right thing to do,” says Harrell.

The House Speaker says he hopes the best for the Sanford family to work out personal issues.