June 23, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Statement on Governor Sanford
Senator Greg Ryberg (R-Aiken) today said that the man-made tempest surrounding the recent vacation of Governor Sanford is “nothing more than an intra-party political fight driven by the political enemies of Governor Sanford.” Senator Ryberg said that, “The only people worried about the fact that Governor Sanford went hiking without an armed guard remain well-documented Republican political adversaries of the governor seeking to embarrass and discredit the governor. These same people fiddled during the last six months while South Carolina burned. Governor Sanford spotlighted their dereliction and now the defenders of the status quo are lashing back.”
Senator Ryberg noted that Governor Sanford was on a trade mission to Estonia at the time of the 2007 Charleston Sofa Superstore fire and that his office immediately located him to notify him of the tragedy and get him home in time for the memorial ceremonies. “I am confident,” Senator Ryberg said, “that if they can contact him in Eastern Europe then they can also contact him in a national park a few miles from here.”
Senator Ryberg also noted that, “The loudest yelps of concern for gubernatorial authority come from the same people who take every opportunity to destroy that authority. The notion that these people worry about whether or not Governor Sanford needs to sit by the phone waiting to wield his nickel’s worth of power only adds insult to injury.”
Senator Ryberg added that, “What is this bizarre obsession with security? It reeks of elitism—one that pervades South Carolina government at all levels. South Carolina legislators should spend less time worrying about bodyguards and more time worrying about the double-digit unemployment and reckless spending that really matters to the people who pay for the perks and status symbols of the legislators.”
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