As mentioned in my last post, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford seemed perplexed as to why a big deal was being made of his trip to Argentina to see his mistress.  The trip where he was not hiking the Appalachian Trail as he had informed his staff.

I called it a “can opened, worms everywhere” type of situation and as predicted the more the can opens the more worms come out.

Not only has he admitted to an ongoing affair with his mistress but confessed to “crossing the lines” with a handful of other women throughout his 20 years of marriage.

Oh Gov. Sanford, was it hard to be so pious during the Clinton affair while “crossing the lines” with these other women?

I digress. Focus should now be on the fact that he funded at least one trip to Argentina on his state’s dime. Yep, that’s right; the people of South Carolina got to send the good governor to Argentina to rendezvous with his “soul mate”. That’s a lot for a state suffering the second highest unemployment rate in the U.S. Good thing the governor had their back when he formally rejected a portion of the federal stimulus money earmarked by Congress for the state (South Carolina has since received part of the money but not after Sanford had a chance to make a name for himself).

He has said he will reimburse the state an undetermined amount of the more-than $8,000 in taxpayer money spent on the trip, and he insists that no other public money was used for other trips involving his mistress. Pardon my skepticism but I’m guessing this might prove untrue.

Critics have charged that Sanford should resign or be impeached because he was unreachable during the latest Argentina trip and that no one was in charge of state government during his secret absence. Yet no one seems to be moving quickly on this.

State Democratic Party Carol Fowler called Saturday for legislative leaders to set up a bipartisan committee to investigate and criticized law enforcement, particularly the attorney general, for not launching a probe.

“Mark Sanford abandoned his official duties, deceived the public and misled the family. He has even admitted to using public funds to support his extramarital affair,” she said. “But in spite of 10 days of full national humiliation, South Carolinians still don’t know the whole truth. Is Mark Sanford simply an irresponsible public official or guilty of something criminal?”

Excellent question Ms. Fowler. And one that the people of South Carolina deserve to have answered.

However, House Speaker Bobby Harrell, who would chair any forced ouster of the governor by the Republican-controlled Legislature, said it’s premature to heed calls from those in his own party to remove Sanford.

“I want to see what the investigation finds before I’m willing to discuss that topic,” said Harrell, a Charleston Republican.

Perhaps launching an investigation would be a good place to start. Exactly who’s pulling the stings here?