Indigo Journal

Where Was Sanford When the Fire Started?

Posted on 30. Apr, 2009 by Tim Kelly in SC Politics

During the Horry County wildfire, something struck me as a bit odd when Joel Sawyer told us that Ungov. Mark Sanford was “making plans” to survey the damage:

Gov. Mark Sanford is making plans to go to Myrtle Beach, said Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer. The governor, Sawyer said, “is looking for an appropriate time” to arrive at the scene of the fires. It will likely be today, Sawyer said.

I couldn't quite put my finger on why that turn of phrase bothered me – until yesterday when I was Googling around a bit looking on some economic development info. 

It turns out “looking for an appropriate time” meant “when he gets back from Poland and Prague.”

As wildfires – both literal and figurative – raged in South Carolina, Sanford and his inept sidekick Joe Taylor were off touring Eastern Europe, attending the Trade Winds Europe conference in Warsaw, as well as zipping over to the Czech Republic.

It might be reasonable to assume that San-Tay were over there to bolster their dismal economic development record that's left South Carolina currently in third place in the unemployment derby.  But the only notice of what they were doing is handing out a award certificate:

On Sunday, April 19, Ambassador Ashe hosted the South Carolina trade delegation led by Governor Mark Sanford at his Residence in Warsaw. South Carolina Secretary of Commerce Joe Taylor presented an Export Achievement Certificate to a South Carolina firm, North American Rescue.

Don't get me wrong. North American Rescue looks like a fine company that helps provide lifesaving materials to combat troops, as well as jobs in South Carolina. But I'm not sure why San-Tay had to go all the way to Poland to hand out an award to a company based in Greer.

Furthermore, from what I can tell, the purpose of this conference wasn't to recruit jobs for South Carolina – it was to recruit jobs for Poland:

About 80 U.S. companies participated along with over 200 Polish companies from a cross section of industries with a growing potential in Poland, including energy (mining, oil and gas, electric power generation, renewable), defense and aerospace, telecommunications and information technology, environmental technologies, medical equipment, safety and security equipment, automotive parts and service equipment, logistics and transportation, and others.

The combination of the Trade Winds Europe conference and the multi-sector trade mission in Poland provided participants with substantive knowledge and strategies for entering or expanding their business in the European market and Poland specifically. 

There's no clear record of what Sanford was doing in Prague, but my wife was there last spring and says it's lovely, so maybe he was looking at castles. After all, he does have a home at the beach he's trying to unload.

Look, I'm sure Sanford can justify going to Eastern Europe with the Secretary of Disappearing Commerce.  But for a guy who's so big on transparency in government, doesn't it stand to reason that he'd tell us he's in Europe while he's thrown the state budget into turmoil and there's a big ol' fire threatening the main economic engine in South Carolina?