Why an Affair Shouldn’t Ruin Mark Sanford’s Career

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford fields questions during a news conference at the Statehouse in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Mary Ann Chastain)

Today South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford announced that he had affair with “a friend” during his recent trip to Argentina. Suddenly, Sanford’s hopes of running for president in 2012 unraveled. He, like others before him, will see his political undoing because of his personal life.

But Sanford’s affair shouldn’t have caused his undoing. Instead, Sanford’s presidential hopes should have been dashed by his long record of favoring the appearance of fiscal responsibility over programs that make a real difference in the lives of people in South Carolina.

Earlier this year, when Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Sanford announced that he would refuse $2.8 billion in stimulus funds set aside for South Carolina. The state has a higher unemployment rate than the nation as a whole, clocking in at a preliminary estimate of 12.1 percent in May. South Carolina has been hit heavily by job loss in the manufacturing sector.

But perhaps the most appalling side effect of Sanford’s refusal to accepting stimulus funds is its affect on young people. The president of the South Carolina State University, George Cooper, announced that they would be hiking tuition by 8.4 percent this fall, thanks to the fact that state appropriations fell by 36.4 percent. Such actions caused Secretary of Education Arnie Duncan to publicly call out Sanford and Gov. Sarah Palin for their grandstanding on stimulus funds.

One 18-year-old South Carolina student, Casey Edwards, sued the governor over his rejection of funds. A high court finally ordered Sanford to accept the stimulus money, which Sanford said “ain’t that far from a thing called slavery.” In a state that actually supported slavery during the Civil War, that seems in poor taste, to say the least.

Sanford, instead of facing the end of his career over supporting terrible, damaging policies, is instead a target because of an affair. An affair surely affects his personal life and his family, but not something that is an impediment to conducting his work as governor. In fact, though statistics are difficult to gather because they rely on self-reporting, a study conducted in 2000 estimates that as many as 11 percent of all adults have cheated on a spouse or live-in partner.

In other words, people cheat. It’s an unfortunate fact, but not an uncommon one. Sanford, even though he counts social conservatives among his constituents, should not expect to give up his career over an infidelity. Instead, what Sanford should be castigated for trying to restrain the people in his state from economic recovery and punishing the young people of the state with heightened tuition rates.

Kay Steiger is an associate editor for Campus Progress.

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