Mistress Admits Relationship With Sanford

Commerce secretary didn't know where to reach guv

(NEWSER) - Mark Sanford’s recent Argentine excursion wasn’t the first time he had gone missing: His commerce secretary didn’t know where to reach him in June 2008, either, emails reveal. “Need contact number for (Sanford) ASAP,” the secretary wrote to a Sanford staffer on the 28th—a day the South Carolina governor saw his lover, he has since admitted. The email was part of 3,300 pages of communications released to the State. More»

Chapur worked as journalist in US covering 9/11 attacks

(NEWSER) - Maria Belen Chapur has been successfully avoiding the horde of journalists camped outside her Buenos Aires apartment for the last few days, McClatchy reports. Chapur—who has been identified by the Argentine media as Mark Sanford's mistress—worked as a journalist and translator for TV station Canal America and went to the US to cover the 9/11 attacks, according to a producer. More»

He admits Florida rendezvous after it goes public

(NEWSER) - Mark Sanford's life may have officially become a reality show today. The South Carolina governor announced during an unrelated news conference that he spent the weekend with the Argentine lover who cost him his marriage and nearly his job, reports the State . "The purpose was obviously to see if something could be restarted on that front given the rather enormous geographic gulf between us. And time will tell. I don't know if it will or won't." More»

(NEWSER) - A trove of emails from Mark Sanford's office contains no discussion of his recent disappearance or the resulting scandal, the State reports. Critics suspect the South Carolina governor is holding something back. “It’s a very legitimate suspicion,” a professor says. “Complex organizations in the 21st century are highly dependent on e-mail.” Within the innocuous emails, however, are clues to another communication system. More»

Governor kept evenings free, shopped around during state trip

(NEWSER) - Mark Sanford requested meetings with real estate agents during his state-funded trade mission to Argentina last year and rearranged his itinerary to ensure he had at least one free evening in Buenos Aires, according to emails obtained by the AP. The South Carolina governor has said the trip was when he first became intimate with mistress Maria Belen Chapur. More»