Governor Mark Sanford attended a meeting of the National Governor’s Association over the weekend in the nation’s capital, through Monday. He flew there on the state plane. Spokesman Ben Fox told The State newspaper that his registration and hotel cost $1,150.
Also on that trip the governor was scheduled to meet with President Obama, and speak with other governors about the Yucca Mountain issue, on Obama’s plans not to open the nuclear waste facility. Sanford was also slated to participate in a panel discussion on surface transportation including public-private partnership models.
Even though South Carolina governors and those across the country have attended such meetings for many years, some governors have begun to question the cost of governors associations. South Carolina currently owes $106,000 in dues to the National Governor’s Association.
The state Ethics Commission has not found fault with Sanford’s trips to similar meetings.
But John Crangle, a college professor of political science and attorney with the watchdog group Common Cause, does question the legitimacy of such trips by any governor.
