For the Republican Party which regularly flies the flag of morality to have its leading lights caught up in sex scandals is nothing new -- earlier this month Nevada Senator Mark Ensign, one of the most vocal in condemning former president Bill Clinton's liaison with Monika Lewinsky, confessed that he was having an extra-marital affair with the wife of his own chief of staff.
The latest GOP sex scandal, however, has more immediate resonance for the Indian American community. South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford is among the biggest backers of Namrata 'Nikki' Randhawa Haley, the three-term Representative from Lexington who recently announced her intention to contest for Governor at the end of Sanford's term.
While Sanford has stayed clear of officially endorsing Haley for the post, saying it is early days yet, he has been emailing friends and supporters with words highly complementary of the GOP front-runner to succeed him in the Governor's Mansion -- words that carry considerable heft, given that Sanford is not only the incumbent, but is also chair of the Republican Governors' Council.
Sanford's backing and tacit endorsement has meant much to Haley in a race that she entered late, and which sees her pitted against a stellar field including Attorney General Henry McMaster and Sanford's own deputy, Lieutenant Governor Andre Bauer.
The news of Sanford's affair broke while Haley was in Washington DC, to solicit funds and support from the Indian American community in those parts.
Even as Sanford surfaced after being AWOL for five days to make his public confession, the Indian American Republican Council was hosting a well-attended fund-raiser for Haley at the Capitol Hill Club.
Haley has since been attempting to distance herself from the embattled Governor, by separating Governor Sanford's policies from his personal life.
'While Governor Sanford and I have long shared a political philosophy, today's revelations go well beyond politics,' Haley wrote on her official site, calling the developments tragic and promising to do what she could to help the Governor's wife Jenny and the couple's children get through the 'ordeal'.
However, Haley implied, these developments should not impact on her own candidacy. 'My work in the General Assembly and in my campaign for governor has always been centered on bringing trust and accountability back to government,' she wrote. 'One component of that is treating taxpayer dollars responsibly and changing the structure of state government so it is accountable to taxpayers. Governor Sanford has been a champion of those principles, and I admire his efforts in those areas.'
Putting verbal real estate between the Governor, whose friendship she has repeatedly flaunted during her various Assembly runs and in the early days of her campaign for Governor, Haley said 'However, another component is behaving in a manner that allows people to trust in their public officials and feel good about their government. Obviously, the Governor has fallen far short in that regard and that is extremely unfortunate.
'I will continue to bring my message of trust and accountability to the people of our state over the weeks and months ahead. More importantly, I hope to be able to help heal the wounds that have been created in South Carolina by today's news.'
Ironically, however, Haley was still pushing the Governor's endorsement even during her speech at the Capitol Hill Club. 'Once I announced, the Governor immediately came out and said that I was a very inspiring choice and someone he was excited about,' she told the assembled Indian American Republicans. 'He has since sent out a couple of messages out to his people saying, 'I really want you to get to know who she is.' So, all of that is going in a very good direction and helps.'
Replace 'helps' with 'hurts' and you could be closer to the mark, say local political observers. The consensus is that Haley, having repeatedly used Sanford's name to shore up her own credentials even during her successful runs for the state Assembly, will now find it very difficult to put daylight between them.
Ironically Lieutenant Governor Bauer, who was smarting from the fact that his boss was backing the outsider against himself, now gets an unexpected edge in the gubernatorial contest through the very fact that he is not seen as a Sanford man.
Equally importantly, Haley will now pay a price for allowing her principles of fiscal conservatism to dictate her support of Sanford's decision to refuse a sizeable $ 700 million in federal stimulus, offered as part of the Obama administration's stimulus package. With South Carolina facing the impact of rising unemployment and rampant recession, the decision to turn down a sizeable fiscal package on political grounds hasn't gone down well with a majority of the state's lawmakers.
