SC gov’s wife says husband must earn back trust

COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina first lady Jenny Sanford says her husband’s affair with an Argentine woman broke a trust that he must earn back — first from his family, then his constituents.

She says she is willing to forgive his “inexcusable” behavior and give him another chance, but that reconciliation takes time and it won’t be easy. Her statement Thursday was the first since Gov. Mark Sanford told The Associated Press earlier in the week that his mistress, Maria Belen Chapur, is his soul mate but he is trying to fall back in love with his wife of 20 years.

“Mark has stated that his intent and determination is to save our marriage, and to make amends to the people of South Carolina. I hope he can make good on those intentions,” Jenny Sanford said.

She said her husband showed a lack of judgment in his actions and “it is up to the people and elected officials of South Carolina to decide whether they will give Mark another chance as well.”

However, she said, “his far more egregious offenses were committed against God, the institutions of marriage and family, our boys and me.”

Mark Sanford’s spokesman, Joel Sawyer, said the governor will travel Friday to be with his family in Florida, where his in-laws live.

The Republican brushed aside calls for his resignation as state law enforcement officials announced that an investigation found he had used no taxpayer money on trips to New York and Argentina where he saw Chapur.

Jenny Sanford found out about the affair in January, but it didn’t become public until Mark Sanford announced it at an emotional news conference last week following a secret trip to Buenos Aires. His wife told The Associated Press that he had repeatedly asked permission to go to Argentina to visit his mistress, but she said no. He went anyway, telling his staff he was planning to hike the Appalachian Trail.

The Sanfords have been separated for several weeks.

Sawyer would not say where the Sanfords will stay in Florida or how long they will be together. He asked the media to respect their privacy.

Several cars with South Carolina license plates were seen Thursday coming in and out of the gated community in Hobe Sound, Fla., where Jenny Sanford’s family lives.

As he prepared to fly along with a security detail to meet his family, Sanford also released his personal travel records to the media, though he did not include information from his most recent trip to Argentina. He has maintained he did not use taxpayer money to finance his trysts, which the investigation backed up, said State Law Enforcement Division Chief Reggie Lloyd.

“What he did on his own private time is not illegal,” Lloyd said.

Chapur and Sanford met at an open air dance spot in Uruguay in 2001 and their relationship became physical during an economic development trip Sanford took to South America in June 2008. In between, the governor told AP, they exchanged e-mails but saw each other only once, a coffee date during the Republican National Convention in 2004.

Sanford has already given the state treasurer two personal checks totaling $3,300 to pay for part of the 2008 economic development trip. He saw Chapur four times after that — the most recent trip to Argentina, plus three visits in New York in between.

Though law enforcement has cleared Sanford, he is likely to face plenty more fallout from his recent revelations. Publisher Sentinel, a conservative imprint within Penguin Group (USA) Inc., announced Thursday that it has terminated Sanford’s deal to write a book on fiscal conservatism.

But most difficult, his wife said, will be making things right with her and their four sons.

“Actions have consequences and he will be dealing with those consequences for a long while,” Jenny Sanford said.

Associated Press writers Tamara Lush, Jim Davenport, Jeffrey Collins, Seanna Adcox and Brett J. Blackledge in Columbia and Brian Skoloff in Hobe Sound, Fla., contributed to this report.