With questions still lingering about his extramarital affair, Governor Mark Sanford made a concerted effort to get back to his job as the state’s chief executive holding his first press conference Tuesday since he revealed details of his affair. Appearing at the DMV in Greer, Sanford voiced his concerns that the federal Pass ID program proposed by the Department of Homeland Security threatens civil liberties.Sanford was one of 11 governors who refused to participate in the Real ID program last year despite a December 31 deadline. At that time, Sanford expressed concern that the national ID program would cause long lines at DMV offices. He also expressed that the program would lead toward persons compromising their civil liberties and rights to privacy. While the new, improved Pass ID is proposed to address the cost issue and long lines at the DMV, Sanford says the concerns over civil liberties and privacy remain.

Sanford has sent a letter to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs suggesting that more attention be paid to civil liberties. Sanford says he is asking the committee for the removal of a centralized hub for information. Sanford says central repositories don’t work well and he cited Pearl Harbor as an example why vital resources and information should be spread out and not housed in one place. He says Mississippi, as a proposed hub, is “not a good idea.”

Sanford is also asking that there be specific exemption for victims of domestic violence. current language proposed in Pass ID would allow victims to be tracked down, even if they were using new names.

Sanford is also asking that the bill include language prohibiting radio frequency identification devices. He says when such ID’s are used, scanning devices can be used to gather personal information from RFID cards from a distance.

Making his first public appearance since his announcement of an extramarital affair, Governor Mark Sanford stopped by the Department of Motor Vehicles office in Greer Tuesday to voice his concerns over the PASS ID law. As expected, the affair was the hot topic of discussion, and Sanford said its time to move on.

“I made a mistake in life. I have apologized for that mistake. I’ve said all I’m gonna say on that one, and I’m moving forward. I think the people of South Carolina are ready to do the same,” says Sanford, “this has been painful, it’s been what it is. But it is time to move on and that is what I intend to do and that’s what I hear from a lot of people across South Carolina.”

The governor received several rounds of applause from his Republican supporters. He said he’s currently working to repair his relationship with his wife, Jenny, and he is planning more trips with his family.

Governor Mark Sanford

The South Carolina Senate Finance Subcommittee will meet next week in Columbia to review the state spending habits of Governor Mark Sanford. 

Greenville’s David Thomas chairs the panel that has oversight of the constitutional offices’ budgets.  He says, “The issue concerning the governor involves expenditure of funds and whether some of those expenditures were proper or not.  The subcommittee then would undertake an examination of that, see what the SLED has done.  We don’t have a copy of the report, but we would see what SLED has done, add onto it if necessary.  If we think it is complete then we can at least report back to the full committee about the results of our investigation.” [Read more...]