Feb 28 2008
Chaffins Gave Campaign Money to Sanford Prior to Port Royal Deal
But it now appears that there may actually be more to Sanford’s dealings with Chaffin than the governor initially admitted.
The Palmetto Scoop has discovered that Chaffin and his wife gave $4,000 to Sanford over a one-year period prior to the finalization of the port deal. A search of the state Ethics Commission’s Website yielded a Nov. 18, 2005 contribution from Chaffin to Sanford in the amount of $2,500 as well as a $500 donation on Sept. 28, 2006. His wife Betsy gave an additional $1,000 on the same date as Chaffin’s first contribution.
Those donations cast serious doubts on Sanford’s claims that his involvement with Chaffin was simply an attempt to better understand the port deal and that he did not act in an unethical manner. At the very least, he had a clear conflict of interest. At the very worst, he took a bribe.
The new insight also reflects the Sanford Administration’s ill-advised gamble in taking a “bring it on” approach to dealing with the issue. When state legislators and others questioned the governor’s involvement, his spokesman Joel Sawyer brazenly encouraged further exploration to exonerate Sanford.
“We would welcome any objective look at the governor’s involvement in this issue,” Sawyer said. “What we know is that an investigation would unequivocally show that the governor was acting in the best interest of the taxpayers, and in the best interest of the people in Port Royal who want a vibrant town center and access to the water.”
We’re innocent until proven guilty and Sanford has welcomed all discussion on the issue so I am not going to throw him under the bus just yet, but the circumstantial evidence here does not look good at the present moment. Hopefully the campaign money played no part in the governor’s Port Royal dealings.
[...] been accusations flying from Sanford’s opponents that his objections were due to him favoring another buyer who has contributed financially to his campaign, but nothing has been [...]