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Posted on Thu, Jul. 02, 2009

Cost of Sanford's tryst? $334 more than he paid originally

Jeff Wilkinson | The State (Columbia, S.C.)

last updated: December 21, 2012 07:43:56 AM

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Gov. Mark Sanford on Wednesday repaid the South Carolina general fund an additional $334 after The State newspaper questioned how much he had reimbursed taxpayers for a June 2008 trip to see his Argentine lover.

Spokesman Joel Sawyer said the governor's office miscalculated meals and miscellaneous travel expenses after The State asked how the $3,000 he repaid Tuesday evening was calculated.

"It was a clerical mistake, period," Sawyer said. "We made the governor aware of it immediately."

A Sanford staffer hand-delivered the check to state treasurer Converse Chellis' office about 10 minutes after a call from the newspaper, the treasurer's spokesman Scott Malyerck said.

Sanford, under pressure to resign after admitting to a love affair with Maria Belen Chapur, volunteered to reimburse taxpayers for his and a Commerce department staffer's expenses for the Argentine leg of a 2008 trade mission to that country and neighboring Brazil.

Records show Sanford met with Argentine business and government officials during the June 24-27, 2008, Argentine portion of that trip. But he's also acknowledged that was when his relationship with Chapur became physical.

To read the complete article, visit www.thestate.com.