"E-mail Part Of [Governor Mark] Sanford Spin Cycle".
E-mail part of Sanford spin cycle
Messages show staffers sought to fine-tune governor’s image
By JOHN O’CONNOR
E-mails released by Gov. Mark Sanford’s office show an administration that is concerned about its image, coordinates its message with a close group of former staffers and is not afraid to play hardball with political opponents.
The documents show the behind-the-scenes workings of a governor who long claimed ideas were more important than politics.
Many of the e-mails contain press clippings. Others discuss which papers Sanford should place opinion pieces in or interviews he should accept. Sanford also frequently asks staff to send him stories or cartoons about him.
SC Governor
South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford ponders a question as he admits during an interview with The Associated Press that there were more encounters with his Argentine mistress than he previously has disclosed, in his office Tuesday, June 30, 2009, in Columbia, S.C.
Some of Gov. Mark Sanford’s e-mail records, released to The State and other media outlets this week, show previously unseen sides of the embattled governor.
• The temperamental governor. Sanford has long held a reputation for being a demanding boss.
In an October e-mail exchange, Sanford snaps at Joel Sawyer, his communications director.
“(W)hy am I the staff writer,(sic) I must have written 100 things to day, including letters etc. we ahve(sic) to get this part of my life leveraged.”
In another e-mail exchange in October, Sanford snaps at Sawyer again, “(W)hy am I now looking in speech book with nothing in it on tue pm? where is it?”
• The confused governor. Like many governors, Sanford gets daily press clippings from his staff so that he can see what newspapers are writing about him. But on one Monday in October — after six years in office — Sanford seems to forget how the process works.
“(W)hy do I get three today?” Sawyer e-mails to Sawyer on a Monday.
“(A)lways 3 on Monday,” Sawyer writes back, “two from weekend, one from today.”
(One package was of Saturday coverage, another of Sunday coverage and the third of Monday coverage. )
• The secretive governor? First lady Jenny Sanford has said she first learned of her husband’s affair with an Argentine woman, Maria Belen Chapur, in January.
On Jan. 16, the governor asked a staffer whether he can set up his phone for international calls.
“Your personal phone is NOT set up to call international,” the staffer responds to the governor. “If you are not talking about doing something today, your best option would be to upgrade JS’s phone for international calls.”
Based on other e-mails, JS most likely references first lady Jenny Sanford.
There is no indication who Gov. Sanford wanted to call internationally.
An attorney for the governor said a review of his state-paid e-mail and communication accounts “found no e-mails between (Sanford) and Maria Belen Chapur.”
The e-mail about international phone calls was sent from a staffer’s personal e-mail account to Sanford’s personal e-mail account.
Sanford’s state-funded e-mail and communications generally are subject to public review. However, communications on privately paid phones or e-mails are more difficult for the public to access.
Sanford’s staff says it released all e-mails from the governor’s personal Comcast account that concerned state business. Those e-mails totaled about 170 of the 3,000 released.
Those e-mails contained no mention among staffers of the governor’s six-day disappearance. The 3,000 e-mails also scarcely mention any of the normal activities of a governor’s office — including Cabinet meetings and appointments to boards and commissioners.
In many cases, staff or Sanford discuss ways to respond to media coverage and opinion columns that they disagree with, such as an article critical of Sanford’s record.
In one e-mail, staff members write a response to an article. The e-mail’s title is “Proposed surrogate: Chad Walldorf.” That indicates Sanford’s office wrote the piece for Walldorf, a political ally and former chief of staff, to sign his name to.
Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer said the practice is common among politicians.
“I wouldn’t say we do it often,” Sawyer said.
Efforts to reach Walldorf were unsuccessful.
Former Sanford communications director Chris Drummond said the e-mails need to be put in context. Drummond said the governor’s office cannot buy advertising. Instead, the governor has to make the best use possible of “earned” television and print coverage through events, press releases and opinion pieces.
Criticism can be difficult to respond to, Drummond said. If Sanford recently had an opinion piece published in a newspaper, for instance, many times the paper would not accept another. That’s when the governor turned to a surrogate to sign his or her name to the opinion piece, said Drummond, who left the governor’s office in 2005.
In recent years, Sanford also has tapped nonprofit political education groups to spread his message on television and radio.
‘VERY SAD FOR OUR STATE’
At times, the e-mails also suggest the governor should get tougher with those who disagree with him.
One e-mail — the sender’s name was redacted by the governor’s attorney before the communication was released — warns Sanford that lawmakers had met with Columbia public-relations adviser Bob McAlister to run a series of television ads criticizing Sanford’s opposition to taking federal stimulus money.
“As you know, McAlister is a consultant to the Ports Authority and receives approx. 6 thousand per month and has for years,” said the e-mail, sent to Sanford’s private Comcast e-mail account. “It’s funny how loyalty works! Clearly it doesn’t work both ways.”
Sawyer could not say if the message was meant as a threat, adding, “I don’t think the governor has the authority to do that (strip McAlister’s port contract).”
Told of the e-mail. McAlister laughed and said, “No comment.”
(McAlister — a former staffer to late Republican Gov. Carroll Campbell — most recently authored an opinion piece, published in The State, urging forgiveness for Sanford and comparing him to David, the biblical leader who committed adultery.)
In another e-mail, Sanford outlines his differences with S.C. House Speaker Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston. Lawmakers and Sanford have squabbled throughout the governor’s two terms in office.
In a March e-mail with the subject line “FW: Meeting with Harrell,” a frequent Sanford confidante reminds Sanford: “95% of agendas are the same. Concentrate on the positive, don’t emphasize the differences.”
But Sanford responds, “Let me assure you we are not 95 percent there,” before retelling a story of Sanford’s first dinner with Harrell.
There, Sanford wrote, Harrell said, “If you got to grow government to grow the economy he would gladly do so.”
Sanford disagrees, writing in the e-mail, “Private enterprise could never grow hand in hand with govt — one always grows at the expense of the other.”
Harrell was unavailable for comment. But his spokesman, Greg Foster, said Sanford misunderstood Harrell’s premise.
Good-paying, high-tech jobs require an educated work force, Foster said, and Harrell thinks improving the state’s K-12 schools and colleges is a wise budget choice.
“It’s very sad for our state if he based his entire working relationship with the Legislature” on that conversation, Foster said.
‘MARK’S LAST CHANCE’
In another chain of May e-mails, state Sens. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort, and Mick Mulvaney, R-Lancaster — lawmakers allied with the governor — discuss how to turn the budget and stimulus debate in the governor’s favor.
“‘Paying down debt’ doesn’t sell well outside the limited group that understands economics at the government level,” Mulvaney wrote. “However, contributing money to the unemployment insurance fund might,” referring to the hundreds of millions of dollars that the state has borrowed from the federal government to pay unemployment benefits.
Davis suggests the governor back off his demand that lawmakers use state money equal to the amount of federal stimulus money to pay off debt. Sanford should point lawmakers toward an alternative plan from Davis and state Sen. Greg Ryberg, R-Aiken. Then, Davis writes, Sanford might succeed in peeling off the handful of legislative votes needed to sustain a veto.
“The budget veto is Mark’s last chance to leverage the stimulus money toward having the Legislature pass a more responsible budget,” Davis wrote.
Lawmakers eventually overturned Sanford’s budget veto, spurring a court battle that ended with a ruling that forced the governor to accept federal stimulus money.
Reach O’Connor at (803) 771-8358.
Messages show staffers sought to fine-tune governor’s image
By JOHN O’CONNOR
E-mails released by Gov. Mark Sanford’s office show an administration that is concerned about its image, coordinates its message with a close group of former staffers and is not afraid to play hardball with political opponents.
The documents show the behind-the-scenes workings of a governor who long claimed ideas were more important than politics.
Many of the e-mails contain press clippings. Others discuss which papers Sanford should place opinion pieces in or interviews he should accept. Sanford also frequently asks staff to send him stories or cartoons about him.
SC Governor
South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford ponders a question as he admits during an interview with The Associated Press that there were more encounters with his Argentine mistress than he previously has disclosed, in his office Tuesday, June 30, 2009, in Columbia, S.C.
Some of Gov. Mark Sanford’s e-mail records, released to The State and other media outlets this week, show previously unseen sides of the embattled governor.
• The temperamental governor. Sanford has long held a reputation for being a demanding boss.
In an October e-mail exchange, Sanford snaps at Joel Sawyer, his communications director.
“(W)hy am I the staff writer,(sic) I must have written 100 things to day, including letters etc. we ahve(sic) to get this part of my life leveraged.”
In another e-mail exchange in October, Sanford snaps at Sawyer again, “(W)hy am I now looking in speech book with nothing in it on tue pm? where is it?”
• The confused governor. Like many governors, Sanford gets daily press clippings from his staff so that he can see what newspapers are writing about him. But on one Monday in October — after six years in office — Sanford seems to forget how the process works.
“(W)hy do I get three today?” Sawyer e-mails to Sawyer on a Monday.
“(A)lways 3 on Monday,” Sawyer writes back, “two from weekend, one from today.”
(One package was of Saturday coverage, another of Sunday coverage and the third of Monday coverage. )
• The secretive governor? First lady Jenny Sanford has said she first learned of her husband’s affair with an Argentine woman, Maria Belen Chapur, in January.
On Jan. 16, the governor asked a staffer whether he can set up his phone for international calls.
“Your personal phone is NOT set up to call international,” the staffer responds to the governor. “If you are not talking about doing something today, your best option would be to upgrade JS’s phone for international calls.”
Based on other e-mails, JS most likely references first lady Jenny Sanford.
There is no indication who Gov. Sanford wanted to call internationally.
An attorney for the governor said a review of his state-paid e-mail and communication accounts “found no e-mails between (Sanford) and Maria Belen Chapur.”
The e-mail about international phone calls was sent from a staffer’s personal e-mail account to Sanford’s personal e-mail account.
Sanford’s state-funded e-mail and communications generally are subject to public review. However, communications on privately paid phones or e-mails are more difficult for the public to access.
Sanford’s staff says it released all e-mails from the governor’s personal Comcast account that concerned state business. Those e-mails totaled about 170 of the 3,000 released.
Those e-mails contained no mention among staffers of the governor’s six-day disappearance. The 3,000 e-mails also scarcely mention any of the normal activities of a governor’s office — including Cabinet meetings and appointments to boards and commissioners.
In many cases, staff or Sanford discuss ways to respond to media coverage and opinion columns that they disagree with, such as an article critical of Sanford’s record.
In one e-mail, staff members write a response to an article. The e-mail’s title is “Proposed surrogate: Chad Walldorf.” That indicates Sanford’s office wrote the piece for Walldorf, a political ally and former chief of staff, to sign his name to.
Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer said the practice is common among politicians.
“I wouldn’t say we do it often,” Sawyer said.
Efforts to reach Walldorf were unsuccessful.
Former Sanford communications director Chris Drummond said the e-mails need to be put in context. Drummond said the governor’s office cannot buy advertising. Instead, the governor has to make the best use possible of “earned” television and print coverage through events, press releases and opinion pieces.
Criticism can be difficult to respond to, Drummond said. If Sanford recently had an opinion piece published in a newspaper, for instance, many times the paper would not accept another. That’s when the governor turned to a surrogate to sign his or her name to the opinion piece, said Drummond, who left the governor’s office in 2005.
In recent years, Sanford also has tapped nonprofit political education groups to spread his message on television and radio.
‘VERY SAD FOR OUR STATE’
At times, the e-mails also suggest the governor should get tougher with those who disagree with him.
One e-mail — the sender’s name was redacted by the governor’s attorney before the communication was released — warns Sanford that lawmakers had met with Columbia public-relations adviser Bob McAlister to run a series of television ads criticizing Sanford’s opposition to taking federal stimulus money.
“As you know, McAlister is a consultant to the Ports Authority and receives approx. 6 thousand per month and has for years,” said the e-mail, sent to Sanford’s private Comcast e-mail account. “It’s funny how loyalty works! Clearly it doesn’t work both ways.”
Sawyer could not say if the message was meant as a threat, adding, “I don’t think the governor has the authority to do that (strip McAlister’s port contract).”
Told of the e-mail. McAlister laughed and said, “No comment.”
(McAlister — a former staffer to late Republican Gov. Carroll Campbell — most recently authored an opinion piece, published in The State, urging forgiveness for Sanford and comparing him to David, the biblical leader who committed adultery.)
In another e-mail, Sanford outlines his differences with S.C. House Speaker Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston. Lawmakers and Sanford have squabbled throughout the governor’s two terms in office.
In a March e-mail with the subject line “FW: Meeting with Harrell,” a frequent Sanford confidante reminds Sanford: “95% of agendas are the same. Concentrate on the positive, don’t emphasize the differences.”
But Sanford responds, “Let me assure you we are not 95 percent there,” before retelling a story of Sanford’s first dinner with Harrell.
There, Sanford wrote, Harrell said, “If you got to grow government to grow the economy he would gladly do so.”
Sanford disagrees, writing in the e-mail, “Private enterprise could never grow hand in hand with govt — one always grows at the expense of the other.”
Harrell was unavailable for comment. But his spokesman, Greg Foster, said Sanford misunderstood Harrell’s premise.
Good-paying, high-tech jobs require an educated work force, Foster said, and Harrell thinks improving the state’s K-12 schools and colleges is a wise budget choice.
“It’s very sad for our state if he based his entire working relationship with the Legislature” on that conversation, Foster said.
‘MARK’S LAST CHANCE’
In another chain of May e-mails, state Sens. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort, and Mick Mulvaney, R-Lancaster — lawmakers allied with the governor — discuss how to turn the budget and stimulus debate in the governor’s favor.
“‘Paying down debt’ doesn’t sell well outside the limited group that understands economics at the government level,” Mulvaney wrote. “However, contributing money to the unemployment insurance fund might,” referring to the hundreds of millions of dollars that the state has borrowed from the federal government to pay unemployment benefits.
Davis suggests the governor back off his demand that lawmakers use state money equal to the amount of federal stimulus money to pay off debt. Sanford should point lawmakers toward an alternative plan from Davis and state Sen. Greg Ryberg, R-Aiken. Then, Davis writes, Sanford might succeed in peeling off the handful of legislative votes needed to sustain a veto.
“The budget veto is Mark’s last chance to leverage the stimulus money toward having the Legislature pass a more responsible budget,” Davis wrote.
Lawmakers eventually overturned Sanford’s budget veto, spurring a court battle that ended with a ruling that forced the governor to accept federal stimulus money.
Reach O’Connor at (803) 771-8358.
Labels: Conservatism, Family life, Keeping them honest, Republicanism
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