Barely in office for three months, U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford received special permission to bring his former mistress – and ostensible fiancée, Maria Belen Chapur – along on a special interest junket to Israel.
Sanford received the exemption to take Chapur on the trip from Reps. Mike Conaway of Texas and Linda Sanchez of California, according to a report in this week’s National Journal. The couple flew to Israel on August 10 and returned eight days later.
“The American Israel Education Foundation spent more than $18,558 to fly Sanford and his fiancée to and from Israel for the weeklong journey,” National Journal reports. “They flew business class, records show, with round-trip flights that cost more than $5,000 apiece. They were part of a delegation of roughly two dozen Republicans, including House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy.”
Hmmmm … interesting company.
Also … should we be happy Sanford is no longer blowing tax dollars on such trips? Or upset that he is so quickly trading his influence for free trips with his “soul mate?”
As for the “work” done by the American Israel Education Foundation – a wing of the pro-Israel lobby in Washington, D.C. – we would like to remind them of their own leader’s recent statements on the issue of American intervention.
“You don’t need to send American troops to defend Israel,” Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu told U.S. lawmakers in May 2011. “We defend ourselves.”
Remember that, Sanford. In fact write it down. Then a picture of it. May come in handy later …
60 comments
He doesn’t need the state plane anymore!
Maybe that is even more troubling. That he and the rest of the political ilk so frequently sup at the Special Interest smorgasbord at the ultimate “expense” of their constituents. Now Sanford is even more beholden, because they made him feel like a sophisticated, worldly big boy and let him take his mistress too! I’m sure he is not the first. If he didn’t bring her they would have supplied home with some or he would have been free to pursue….
him for home
What an embarrassment. This is what your teenage children are going to see on the news.
They know the score.
The barn door has been shut. The barn has been burned down. Weeds have grown in the ashes, only to be replaced by pines, then hardwoods, and then saltwater due to rising sea levels.
It was publicized that he was at a recent CNN party. Sanford-Chapur probably get points for their notoriety and are working it for all they can until they get to their next best thing. CNN will have first news of their marriage as they did for his return from exile interview with Piers, and engagement announcement.
Maybe the kids have CNN “blocked” on their TV?
At least we know Belen Chapur won’t be flying Virgin airlines.
Maria Belen Chapur “junkit”………his” junk”….she took care of “it”…..SHALOM.
Great comment
Oy vey.
Sanford can still disappoint, but little he does could possibly be a surprise. He has been a disgrace to this state in more ways & more times than anyone could’ve ever imagined. And he continues to do it & we continue to elect him. — gawdamightydamn!!
The voters in SCs First District voted for this.He is simply acting like he always does.
Sort of like being surprised the Dog buried the bone!
Ostensibly “private” money spent on this ramble — WhoTF cares who spends it?
Dear Information Assurance Officers at the Charleston Air Force Base,
Does it not cross your minds to ask the question of why Wil Folks did not report on what Mark Sanford went to Israel to discuss instead of reporting on this junket aspect…? How would South American politicos or anyone at Southern Command want to know..? How useful is such information..?
Was Mark Sanford shown the network command center in Israel..?
Oil?
Tonto……..we luv ya……
* hat tip *
There is no longer a Charleston Air Force Base. It has been Joint Base Charleston for more than a year.
Excellent counter….
The New York Dems. sent Dick Head Weiner and Dick Head Spitzer packing into obscurity.
When will the State Republican Party of Adulterers, Ethics violations, and Immoral Activities send Mark Sanford, Richard Eckstrom, Bob Peeler, Nikki Haley, Bobby Harrell, Harvey Peeler, Ronnie Cromer, Luke Rankin and Hugh Leatherman the same message.
Or do we continue to be the proud party of unethical, immoral, adulterers?
The God of Second Chances, from his vacation home in Barbados, has issued a press release stating that He has no use for those Yankees….
Good Question!
Yeah, but the GOPers keep saying they got saved while they continue to sin and sin and sin.
Wasn’t there something about going and sinning no more? Doesn’t apply to this bunch.
TBG remembers the tale an unscrupulous painting contractor, who tried to pull a “fast one” one while painting a church, by watering down the paint. After he finished, lightning struck perilously close to him and a voice boomed from the heavens:
“REPAINT…AND THIN NO MORE!”
So glad to see that god falls on the side of free will. Those predestination people are annoying and can pretty much do anything without fear of retribution.
:)
+5 — very clever, and a new one for me
All of these pricks need to go! I know them well and they are women using scum, even Haley with her lap dances.
Hello Peeler boys, Ronnie and Luke!
Sanford can’t function without his daily ration of fresh pussy regardless how embarrassing he is. Nobody else in Congress is bringing their girlfriend on this trip. At least this time we’re not paying for it.
Does this say something about the SC GOP or the voters who keep them in office?
Definately the blind sheeple who continue to associate with and vote for this type of person. It does not speak well of those who hang out with, associate with, or vote for people like these!
Sanford and Chapur and those that came before and after are disgusting because it once again reveals how the Congress and government are unto themselves. As an employee in private industry, you are prohibited from taking large gifts from special interests, competing contractors, vendors, etc…. You can not share/leak proprietary or sensitive information to the above parties without dismissal. And as for taking your mistress conveniently turned “fiancee” on a business trip, who later writes an insider piece about the trip… you better be updating your resume. Why do we expect less from our elected officials??? Because they told us so?
Chapur was soundly bashed by her countrymen for her weak analysis, bias, as well as her ethics and morality, following the piece she wrote for Infobae.com
Sanford and Chapur are making a name for themselves as a most deserving pair of parasites. C Street is probably delighted to have these two dead-enders in their ranks. But as a conservative I can’t say the same.
You give Sanford, Peeler and Eckstrom, Will Folks and Larry Marchant too much of the attention and credit. Who held a gun to these women and forced them into adultery and their immoral activities?
No One! They made their choices out of their free will. If they had not spred um, it would have been rape.
Give credit where credit is due!
And it is due all of them.
Wonder how the other wives who took the trip felt when Belen showed up w/Sanford. Maybe they love her after meeting her like Mark said everyone will love her when they meet her. Were the wives able to keep their husbands away from her? Hope she did not wear her thong at the hotel pool. We need decent women with good morals to represent USA. Belen proved to be otherwise when she knew he was a father of four young boys and was only interested in what she can get.
If they’re good Republican wives like Calista Gingrich and Cindy McCain, it’s a case of been there, done that.
So, I would not expect many of them to have much of a problem with it.
When Eric Cantor and his bunch went last year or the year before, didn’t one of the newer members skinny dip in the Dead Sea and it got out?
Honey, honey, Mark’s in The Fellowship/The Family/C Street, they’ve been doing personal proselytizing on the government dime for decades….while they pontificate about their fiscal responsibility.
If they keep calling Maria “the fiancé” much longer, I will barf.
I hope those carpetbagger voters in SC1 who sent this maggot on the taxpayer – and, anyone else he can rip off – back to Congress are proud of themselves.
It should be illegal for elected officials to accept money or gifts from a foreign power or its agents. No exceptions, no waivers. Yes, of course, it was “private” money — but who was pulling the strings?
Don’t you know, this is all a good will, thing. People who give money to politicians expect nothing in return.
I told you so.
Thank you lowcountry, for all you do for this state. From forcing us to pay for your bridges to nowhere, your subs from the bottom of the sea, and to renourish the beaches for your impoverished beach house owners, to giving us our best representation in Washington, those of us in the outback salute you.
I was going to say this is unseemly — but after some thought, on the Arrogant Sanford Scale of Unseemliness, it only rates a 3.
Sic, can’t you find a better photo of Chapur than this one?
It certainly appears that no one of statesmanship, honor, integrity, honesty,moral fiber, and ethics runs for public office anymore.
They do seem to think they are elected to royalty and we the peasants are there to serve them with our money and vote. They deserve our money more than we and should bow to their frivolity, whims and desire to be worshipped.
Fuck um!
Vote em out!
Vote ’em out? The People just voted him back in!
Apparently Mark knew people would be upset if he told them he was bringing Belen on the trip with him. He carefully did not mention her when he put on his face book that he was going to Israel. He is still playing games-this time with SC voters instead of his ex-wife.
Yeah, he missed an opportunity to cement a bond with one of his kids who could have accompanied him before school started. Oh, but then Maria Belen Chapur would not have been able to write her Dateline: Israel, “The Middle East on Fire” analysis for InfoBae.com.
Could Mark have written or helped her write that article? Have read her other articles and they were not impressive at all-more like she expressed the opinions that were already expressed by others.
We really do not know her and her background. Her privacy is her way of keeping us from knowing who and what she is. And that is what is scary.
Is there an Englsh translation to her article? I’m just curious as to Te obtextof what she wrote although it seems from other posts the reviews are unfavorable. I ind it alo interesting that she mentioned Pope Francis in the article writing some sort about believing in miracles. I find it unnerving and hpcritical that someone insinuates about religion and sounding pious when in hindsight she broke apart a family by carrying an affair with a thn much arrived man that was Mark Sanford. How Christian could that be?
He needed to be ‘serviced’ while in Israelobviously. And ohh I read somewhere the fiancée who provided the service wrote about the Israel trip which she posted in some Latin website. Ahhh , she’s starting to enjoy the perks….
She looks tasty to me.
Politicians who make these junkets get to give Benjamin Netanyahu a blow-job. I don’t know what role wives and girl friends play, though. Maybe if their wife or girl friend also gives Bibi a blow-job, the politician gets even more money from the Israel Lobby.
The Lobby let Lindsey G. make a speech at the AIPAC convention a couple of years ago. How many B-Js did he have to give Bibi to get that opportunity?
—-it could be that he doesn’t trust her to be left alone, or vice-versa?
Mark and Belen were forced to walk on the Red Carpet at CNN bash. That’s what the headlines said at CNN news. Just by reading their faces, the smiles were forced and they appeared to be either uncomfortable or nervous. Other pictures we’ve seen Mark with his ex-wife always show him putting his hand on her shoulder or her arm would be on his arm. There was none of that in this picture.
They do have odd body language but because they are soul-mates they connect on a plane other than the merely physical. Touch is superfluous for them. The spirits tell me they no longer have what is commonly called “sex.”
Your spirits may be right and they may be bored with each other now because the forbidden fruit has turned sour.
Thanks a lot Charleston Republicans. You guys don’t have anything on the New Yorkers. At least they had the good sense to send Spitzer and Weiner packing.
Did you read The Charleston Paper as to why Sanford won and those New Yorkers did not?
No. I did not. I suspect Sanford’s win had something to do with a combination of republican hypocracy and an uninformed electorate, but do enlighten me. I must admit I have not spent much time analyzing the NY Comptroller’s race, but Weiner’s ultimate failure at the ballot box can be traced to voters rejecting his outrageous fettish which completely overshadowed and derailed his campaign just like it cratered his Congressional career.
If you are from SC or better yet from SC 1, I hate to tell you what the reason the author wrote. He had just one reason.
Israel and it’s lobby is pushing for the US to bomb Syria, which they are saying, according to Antiwar.com, will be the prelude to conning the US to go to war with Iran. All the while Israel sits back on their nuclear stockpile and American supplied F-15s and insist (You know who) do the actual fighting. Yes Israel defends itself with American supplied tanks as long as they are going up against rock throwing populations.
He sets a fine example for his four boys?