S.C. newspaper got tip about Gov. Sanford’s affair 6 months ago
The State
South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford admitted to having an affair hours after Gina Smith, a reporter for The State newspaper in Columbia, S.C., contronted him at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
But The State reports that it first heard of the possible affair in December, when an anonymous tipster sent copies of e-mail messages between Sanford and a woman named Maria in Argentina. The State has posted copies of the emails on thestate.com
According to the New York Times:
Reporters sent e-mail back to the originating e-mail address and to the woman, whose e-mail address was included, in an effort to verify that the messages were genuine. They never heard back, and so the paper did not publish them until Wednesday, after Mr. Sanford admitted having an affair.
“We had not determined they were authentic,” Leroy Chapman, the political editor at The State, said of the e-mail. “What it was, was a puzzle piece that was hardly discernible.”
The New York Times, USA Today and the Los Angeles Times were among papers that led the front page with Sanford’s admission. The Washington Post led its page with a follow on the fatal Metro accident, but played the Sanford story at the top of its front page as well.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch carried an Associated Press story on Page A6 this morning.
Steve Parker is the deputy managing editor for news, and oversees the Post-Dispatch's front page. STLtoday's online news editors are on his newsroom team. Parker has been at the paper since September 1980. 
It really something when the political party of the Republicans,who seems to gave the image of the moral high ground,get so many of their members caught up in the destuction of extramartial affairs.Look like this is more than a Democrats only club.
The same “news” organizations that bent over backwards telling us how sex between the President and an intern was “private”, and not “up to the level of impeachment”, are the same folks who now want to snicker about Sanford’s situation.
The guy is obviously done politically, so move on to something relevant.
Maybe a story about how this President is abusing the office, or the illegal firing of Inspector Generals looking into the serious improprieties?
Maybe a story on the serious improprieties by the president and the first crony that the I.G.s were investigating?
Maybe a story about how Detroit has 30,000 more registered voters than people of voting age?
Maybe a piece on how Public Allies, ACORN, and other groups associated with the Obamas are training and subsidizing with taxpayer dollars a whole new radical Saul Alinsky type “brownshirts”?
Maybe a piece on how Pelosi is trying tomorrow to ram a “cap and trade” bill through congress despite it not even being written yet, much less read by any legislator?
Yeah, beholding to no party?….riiiiiiggghhhht!
So the South Carolina press had proof of the affair months ago, but didn’t pursue corroboration and didn’t bother to do any additional investigation. Consequently, they — like the rest of the world — were caught flat-footed when the governor decided to disappear and spend a week with his mistress.
An “independent” press should not serve as governmental patsy. The only interests served here were those of a corrupt politician, who was able to continue lying to his wife and constituency for months longer than he should have been.
Oh,yes Dr-debush-When the Democrats do wrong just blast it all over the world to be knowed about to all,but when a when a beloved Repubican get caught doing wrong,lets just sweep it under the rug and forget about it.YES!!!
D-Debush
When you urge folks to “move on” to something relevant it seems to imply that there’s some super-slowmo wallowing in Gov. Sanford’s idiocy.
The story broke about 24 hours ago. While we are in a 24/7 instant news cycle, it hardly seems that a day or two on the topic is overkill.
Clinton already squeezed the toothpaste out of the tube on this issue. Infidelity is nobody’s business and “is” doesn’t mean “is,” right? Reality check: Clinton was not impeached for cheating on his wife; He was impeached for perjury in an effort to deny a U.S. citizen her right to the civil process. Those who didn’t care about Clinton’s dalliances shouldn’t care about Sanford’s.
Dr. DeBush- The corporate media completely failed to investigate and were happy to broadcast the many lies of the bush administration. Face it, this guy is a do-as-I-say, not-as-I-do republican. As long as he opposes abortion and same sex marriage, he’ll get every republican vote.
I must be lazy. If I can’t get me some just by walking next door then so be it.
Steve and Ill. reader—
—Did you read what I said? Sanford is a joke, and just another lame smokescreen blown in our faces. Don’t care about him or his “career”, as it is not the issue.
The ISSUE is the hypocrisy of the left and the inability of the P.D. to
report on REAL issues that have REAL impact on our country. When Clinton was diddling an INTERN 35 years younger than his wife, the left was saying it didn’t matter, that it was his private life. If it had been ANY Republican doing the same thing, you KNOW the result would have been polar-opposite.
Now we have a president who is committing REAL CRIMES, [illegally firing Inspectors General] who were investigating improprieties in his administration, and the P.D. wants to write about a “private” [according to their own paradigm] relationship between CONSENTING ADULTS! Again, Sanford is not the issue. It is the hypocrisy and the failure of the MSM to do anything against this administration.
It’s complicated for liberals I know, but the truth can be hard. Gratefully, we have the internet, where the light of truth can be shown on these hypocrisies. THIS is the issue, thanks for your question so I may shine the light for you. Can you see?
Roosevelt died in the arms of his mistress. Kennedy had numerous affairs, one with the girfriend of a mofia boss. Clinton couldn’t keep his pants zipped. I don’t care whether a political figure has an affair or not but this governor was WRONG in lying about his location. I think he should step down for that, not the affair.