S.C. guv's wife willing to forgive
COLUMBIA, S.C. - The wife of embattled South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford called his affair with an Argentine woman "inexcusable" but said yesterday that she is willing to forgive him.
Jenny Sanford's e-mailed statement was her first public comment since her husband told the Associated Press earlier this week that his mistress is his soul mate but that he is trying to fall back in love with his wife.
"My forgiveness is essential for us both to move on with our lives, with peace, in whatever direction that may take us," Jenny Sanford said in the statement. "Mark has stated that his intent and determination is to save our marriage, and to make amends to the people of South Carolina. I hope he can make good on those intentions, and for the sake of our boys."
She said it is up to South Carolina voters and elected officials to decide whether they can "give Mark another chance."
Sanford returned last week from a secret trip to Argentina to see his mistress, Maria Belen Chapur. His staff had said that he was hiking the Appalachian Trail, and he later apologized for misleading them. *
