ANOTHER SCANDAL FOR THE “LUV GOV”
By FITSNEWS || U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford‘s political comeback has hit another snag …
Months after yet another interpersonal drama involving the forlorn “Luv Gov” blew up in his face, Sanford is now taking heat for receiving a six-figure payout from a controversial lender.
According to the Associated Press, Sanford and North Carolina governor Pat McCrory both “accepted six-figure stock payouts from an online mortgage broker accused by regulators of deceiving its customers.”
The stock payouts came from Charlotte, N.C.-based lender Tree.com – which is being investigated by the wire service for its corrupt business practices.
According to the AP, Sanford “received his $108,539 in Tree.com stock after taking office in Congress” – although the company didn’t disclose the payout until May 2014. The wire service says Sanford’s acceptance of the money has “never been made public until now.”
Sanford – who made nearly a quarter of a million dollars from Tree.com over a thirteen-month period beginning in April 2012 – says he’s done nothing wrong, yet he has repeatedly voted on issues related to the financial industry since winning a special election for the U.S. House in May 2013.
Sanford served two terms as South Carolina’s governor from 2003-11 – nearly getting impeached after admitting to an extramarital affair in 2009. It wasn’t his romantic exploits that caused him problems, but rather an investigation into his travel practices – which included the taxpayer subsidization of at least one of his romantic interludes.
UPDATE: Not surprisingly, Sanford’s latest scandal is having immediate political consequences.
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96 comments
It’s a trap!
The Love Guv is such a stellar character. The people of South Carolina deserve him.
The carpet baggers of SC1 sure as hell deserve him.
‘carpet bagger’? You talkin bout that Marxist , Green Peace activist Gloria Tinabu that Tom Rice has defeated twice in SC7?
I see Sandi has another poorly-hidden sock puppet account.
Who is ‘Sandi’? Opened up Disqus account because you hijacked ‘pogo2’ posting bullshit.
Fuck you and don’t do it again, queer boy. :-)
Yes they do. A fiscal and social conservative that votes to protect the unborn.
God Bless Mark Sanford!!!
As a fiscal conservative, I think we can do better. Look at his actions behind the scenes, not empty words and grand gestures.
God had given Sanford many blessings: faithful wife, wonderful sons, the public trust, another chance at public service – he squanders all.
We don’t have time to do better. This country is on the brink. I would take Sanford over John Boehner.
Big mistake going after Sanford if you are a conservative. We need him.
Sanford unfortunately is mostly an ineffectual suit who did (does) a disservice to us all as a target of hypocrisy for his opponents. His time as placeholder should rightly come to a close. To avoid the brink we need people of good judgement capable of transparency.
Not in 2016. Timing is wrong and Sanford continues to be a name that matters on a national platform. Political fodder for libs and RINO”s- a blessing for those that are fiscal conservatives and stand for the issues of ‘life’ and traditional marriage.
I’m kidding. This guy and other republicans are crooks to the bone.
Try again Deo/Rocky.
An elected official who uses taxpayer funds to finance his affair is in no way a fiscal conservative. Back alley trash.
Back alley trash is a mother that kills her unborn child and the advocates of butchering unborn children like YOU.
Bless your heart. You are an aberrant being. Not human.
That is 2x’s my heart has been blessed today. I thank you.
Certainly you must be kidding? Or you are a complete ASSHOLE. Which is it. No need to answer. You are a COMPLETE ASSHOLE.
The guy is a proven liar. Why would anybody think this guy is above board?
Probably for the same reasons they’d think Thomas Ravenel is a great candidate for the U.S. Senate. *cough* *cough*
Thank you for such an enlightening story Will. I take back every bad thing I ever said about this site.
Great post!
I love this site. Tango’s may be more substantive on the issues however the volume of comical insanity bloggers post on FITS makes this a fun playground.
Sandi loves getting a taste of her own medicine.
As long as she’s not a spitter…
Typical libertarian. Its “free” enterprise.
Rest assured they bribed him for some access to a crony related market that was prohibiting their entry into SC somehow.
Cronyism isn’t Capitalism. It is a corruption found in many forms of governance and global economies. Doesn’t it start in the school yard?
But, you never have capitalism without cronyism.
Well sure it happens. Capitalism doesn’t occur in a vacuum. That is why you need an unbiased Fourth Estate.
What both you two are missing is that without gov’t force, “cronyism” can’t occur because corporations must succeed or fail on the basis of how customers value their production.
Without gov’t force, corporations have no control over you short of them hiring thugs to kill you…which obviously isn’t going to garner them customers long term.
Without government, the corporations would just do all the shit they used to have the government do for them by themselves or through other corporate entities. Buy off corporate media, pay mercenary corporations to threaten other countries to act in their interests, hire their own goons to beat employees into submission, use various anti-competitive measures to lock out upstarts, etc.
Government is a tool. Getting rid of the tool doesn’t get rid of the bad actors.
“Government is a tool. Getting rid of the tool doesn’t get rid of the bad actors.”
I never claimed it did, but this pie in the sky fantasy people have that there’s a way to “fix” the tool that corrupt and wealthy organizations use to extract money from you is laughable from a logical standpoint.
You will never wrest that tool away from them, they own you, via the tool.
If the tool isn’t there, they don’t have leverage associated with it.
“pay mercenary corporations to threaten other countries to act in their interests, hire their own goons to beat employees into submission”
None of that would get them customers in the long term and it isn’t a successful long term business model, not withstanding that corporations would arise to beat them back because people would voluntarily pay to be protected.
It’s a fools game to think you can take the “tool”(aka as bat) from those controlling it and turn it against them. Good luck with that.
“Without gov’t force, corporations have no control over you short of them hiring thugs to kill you…which obviously isn’t going to garner them customers long term.”
Why don’t you explain that theory to the Gambino family. Maybe they will see the error of their business model. Under your theory their customers must be abandoning their protection services in droves to go to legitimate security companies. I am surprised they are still in business.
Organized crime is capitalism without government control.
What did he do to get the stock? Invest? Board of Directors? Pure gift?
That question occurred to me too. Is he on the board?
Damn good compensation for being on a board…
He’s listed as a “former” board member.
This stinks to high heaven!!!
Sanford joined the Tree.com board in April 2012 after finishing his term as South Carolina governor in a cloud of ethical questions. He had been forced to pay $74,000 to settle 37 state ethics charges, including using taxpayer funds to pay for flights to Argentina to visit his mistress.
As director, he was issued 5,518 restricted stock shares that would have vested in two equal installments in June 2013 and June 2014. But Sanford returned to politics before then, winning a special election to Congress, which prohibits its members from being paid to serve on corporate boards.
Sanford resigned from Tree.com’s board effective May 16, 2013, the day after he was sworn in. Under the company’s compensation program, Sanford’s unvested shares were to become worthless at the time of his resignation.
Then, on June 19 – a month after Sanford took office – the company’s board voted to retroactively vest his $108,539 in restricted shares, Grueling told the AP.
The retroactive payment was proper because Sanford’s fellow directors weren’t able to meet before his “unexpected” resignation, Grueling said. And because he was no longer a director at the time of the vote, she said the company wasn’t required to disclose the transaction to the SEC or shareholders.
On his filings Sanford did not make clear that his 5,518 restricted shares vested after he left the company and after he was sworn into Congress. Members of Congress are required to disclose each “purchase, sale, or exchange” involving securities valued in excess of $1,000. Tom Rust, the chief counsel and staff director of the U.S. House Ethics Committee, said he could not comment about whether Sanford properly disclosed his receipt of the Tree.com shares.
All told, Sanford cleared $239,159 in stock, director’s fees and special dividends in his 13 months with Tree.com, records show.
Good work if you can get it eh?
Insider information? A cheater is a cheater in all aspects of his life. You’d think being a Jesus cheater who tried to convince us God gave him a 2nd chance, he’d be working harder to live a life above reproach.
Any minute now, he’ll be blaming Jenny for this too.
The “God of Second Chances” bullshit was especially hilarious considering he told Bill Clinton to step down over his infidelities, but wouldn’t do so himself.
He’s a classic narcissistic sociopath, just like T-Rav, just like Haley, etc.
Perhaps it’s time for another trip to S. America, to a country not likely to extradite him, like Ecuador.
If only we could be so lucky.
Yeah but he was going to vote that way anyway.
Mark Sandford: Worst Soul Mate of All Time
Hope to see THAT ranking in Time magazine like mine as one of the Top 10 Mistresses.
Not if you have a black soul too.
Liberals and libertarians are always against a guy earning a buck. It’s not clear that scum bag Sanford did anything wrong here.
See my post above. Sanford received $239,000 in stock and directors fees from Tree.com over a 13 month period. He then voted on legislation Tree.com. Only a fool would think this company would pay Sanford $239,000 for nothing. Only the people of SC are stupid enough to do that.
Excuse me, he voted on legislation that had an impact on Tree.com.
If everyone who got paid 239,000 or more for 13 months work as a board member went to jail all corporate boards members would be in prison. I didn’t say he was paid for nothing. He was paid the same as the other board members. His vesting was retroactively accelerated.
AP – “These experts gave differing opinions about whether laws were broken.”
The weakest part of the AP story is that Sanford has voted on financial regulations in Congress. It is very interesting that the AP gives no specifics on votes or how Tree.com or benefited. Maybe because there is nothing to report.
I have figured out why FITS has tried to destroy Haley-why is FITS trying to destroy Sanford?
EVERY seat in congress is important. I will take Sanford over ECB or any other socialist/RINO the Godless democrat party supports.
Seriously, what is the difference between a back-bencher like Sanford versus any other run of the mill SC Republican legislator for that seat?!
You act like Sanford is the House Speaker or something. No one of substance thinks he is someone of substance.
He is interchangeable with at least 20 other SC-1 county councilmen, house members, senators and businessmen.
Why in the fuck are you idiots so obsessed with defeating Sanford then?
Because he is an immoral, lying, corrupt idiot who has been living on the backs of the taxpayers for 20 years, and we are sick an tired of paying him money to do nothing but sit on his ass. He is a taker, living on his gubment check, his gubment retirement and his gubment health care, while blasting poor people for taking from society a tiny fraction of what he takes.
So what more do you want to know?
How you became a hateful socialist that voted for Obama 2x’s.
I think he neglected to advise the designated Congressional overseers, of the extent and timing of these transactions. As a veteran of Congress, don’t think he did that out of ignorance….
It is not clear in the AP, but I think the issue is the special treatment of accelerated vesting and its retroactive nature that is raised concern. He reported it. He just didn’t give the details. It might be considered a fine point. See comment by me above at top.
That is simply bullshit. Even the Fortune 500 members don’t score at that level.
I challenge you, name Board Members who are compensated at that level: either High Caps, Mid Caps, or non-exchange companies.
http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-30/board-director-pay-hits-record-251-000-for-250-hours.html
“Pay for directors at Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPX)companies rose to a record average of $251,000 last year,…”
That was easy.
If you believe that horse crap, you must be as dumb as a 1st Congressional district voter. What exactly could Mark Sanford bring to this board that would make him worth 240k two or three board meetings? Note they wont say how many meetings he actually attended.
Any company that puts a politician on its board wants something in return. Any company that pays money to a politician or pays money to get a politician elected, expects a pay back.
There is no way to know whether Tree.com benefited from his prior votes (because we don’t know what they wanted) or plans to benefit from his future votes, but you can sure bet there is a payback plan. Otherwise they would have let his stock options expire. They gave him about 108k he was not entitled under the agreement he made when he joined the board. That is a gift!! A gift he received after he was elected!! A gift he did not disclose when he was voting on legislation in which Tree.com had an interest.
Sanford is a typical corrupt politician. Republicans are particularly susceptible to this type of bribe, because they don’t really see anything wrong with rich people being given privileges in exchange for money. After all money is just speech, remember.
Specifically, only the people of SC1 – our carpet bagger district – are stupid enough to do that.
“It’s not clear that scum bag Sanford did anything wrong here.”
That’s a pretty funny sentence.
I empathize when the rich are getting a bum rap. If I were rich I would sympathize. Like most Republicans, I harbor the illusion that one day I will be rich.
Well, if fairness to you, most Democrats think they are going to level the playing field by using a gov’t controlled by rich people to make things “equal”, fair, etc.
So there’s a lot of delusions going round on both sides of the current paradigm.
Yeah, Democrats love hearing Reid, who’s become a multi millionaire while in the Senate rail about the Koch brothers.
Geeze, all these liberals complaining about billionaires and corporate entities buying our politicians, just get over it! They *might* be perfectly innocent!
But that George Soros guy, he’s evil, let me tell you! Any pol that takes his money is highly suspect! Highly suspect!
All the while, he and FITS decry crony-vote buying…
All the while you troll for a “blog” no one wants to read! LMAO!
He is yours…so own up to it. He represents your morals and those of all of the other douchebags you support. Grifters, whores, and hypocrites the whole lot of them. And that does sound like a country song, which is perfect for the low information rednecks who vote these morons in.
A fake ‘pogo2’ GT…keep up the good work. Love your blog and I have people that may be willing to invest prior to 2016 elections.
We disagree on Sanford. Can you imagine if ECB held that seat?
Thanks. I noticed that about the pogo. Liberals are scared to death more than one person knows the truth about them. Discrediting honesty is their only defense.
Regarding ECB. She would be powerless in the minority in the House. Then a legitimate Republican would have beaten her by now.
The GOP has got to quit retreading very flawed, character-lacking career politicians like Sanford. He projects one image, but is very deceitful in reality. We can, and MUST, do better.
You make some good points about Sanford and the Republicans however it would have been tough to move ECB out of the SC 7 house seat. Any re-election would have been nationalized-millions poured in.
Look what happened to my friend Col.Allen West in FL 22.The Republicans may never get Murphy or the Dems out of that house seat.
Wonder if Jenny knew and wanted to increase child support.
The corruption of those in SC government will come to an end. The FBI is all over these dirt bags. They should call these elected as the Dead Beat Gang. Pay off’s. Deals with Law Firms. I need to have coffee with Jenny to compare notes about my daughters divorce from Andrew S. Patrick.
Sanford is a lying, cheating crook. What more is there to say?. This is a bribe. He needs to go to jail. He should have gone to jail for using state money to fund is soul mate trips to Argentina. But SC is a corrupt Republican controlled state.
How corrupt does a person have to be to go to jail? Commoners go to jail for far less.
Obama , Reid and Pelosi are lying, cheating crooks!!! One is a ‘closet’ muslim supporting radical Islam, one is a mobster and the female is a crazed, Marxist bitch that probably sleeps with an aborted fetus under her pillow.
Conservatives should stand with Sanford.
Are you a leftist provocateur? You can’t be serious?
Sandi/pogo/diamondjim/flip coscoe is a horrendously bad troll.
Hey ASSHOLE. Speaking of “closet”, how about the two senators from S.C. that represent for you??????
Aw SNAP!! Spot On
The voters of South Carolina need to reelect him again.He is a liar especially about the South Carolina Pension Fund.
The details…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/16/mark-sanford-payout_n_6336448.html?utm_hp_ref=politics
Pat McCrory is more deeply involved.
In fact they may have felt compelled to give Sanford the same deal that McCrory got previously so they could deny McCrory got a special deal.
This is a bunch of horseshit. Chump change.Tom Ervin spends almost $4 MILLION $$$$”S of his own money (also taking out bank loan(S)?), quits ONE week before the governor’s election and receives 0.92% of the vote.
He also apparently received $100,000 in donor money.
All these ‘alleged’ frauds FITS creates and if you are ‘keeping score at home’….????
Harrell- NO jail time
Metts-NO jail time
LMAO!!!
You know, saying someone else is more crooked than I am, is no defense to being a crook. Everyone in my neck of the woods has known McCrory was corrupt from the day he was elected. When Duke power dumped coal ash into the Catawba river and lakes, their bought and paid for Governor (mcCrory) along with now bought and paid for Senator Tillis arranged for the taxpayers of NC to pick up the tab for clean up. McCrory, Sanford, Tillis, they are all alike. They are corrupt Republican politicians. They are bought and paid for by special interests. They all think the voters are stupid dupes, and they appear to be right.
Blanket statements about corrupt Republican politicians may cause fist pounding, but it doesn’t get us closer to the facts (Dan River ash spill, not Catawba).
In spite of Sanford’s hypocrisy on travel expenditures, he has had a fairly good record on conflicts of interest and not bowing to special interest. His votes have been consistent with the ideology he ran on to get elected.
As I said, they appear to be right. And I apologize for not remembering the correct river.
Mark was placed on the Board so he could peddle influence (as an X Gov), and that is what he did. He got paid an outrageous amount of money, and will be unrepentant about it.
True reformers in politics are beaten to the ground by both political sides and the media. Posers like this guy are lifted up to great heights (though Sanford’s screwing around took care of that).
Culturally speaking, we need to nurture people brave enough to truly buck the system, and quit worshiping the talented fundraisers and liars.
That SOB. That money belongs to me and the boys. I’m going to roast his ass. Prrobably was spending it on that slut from Georgia.
I read on another site : “Sanford cleared $239,159 in stock, director’s fees and special dividends in his 13 months with Tree.com, records show. Since then, Sanford has voted on financial regulations in Congress, where rank-and-file members are paid an annual salary of $174,000.”
How do I get a deal like that? Oh, yeah, I don’t get to vote for the company’s interests in Congress. We get more like a banana republic every day.
The AP is silent about how Sanford voted and if Tree benefited. Wouldn’t you think that if there was anything to the allegation, they would’ve given details?
If taking money from ANY financial services company, a person of fair and honest character shouldn’t vote on ANY financial services regulatory matters.
Every congressman has financial interest. They all pay taxes. Congressman are impacted by legislation like anyone else.
The AP should give specific legislation, how Sanford voted and how Tree was effected.
So you support six figure sweetheart deals for members of Congress?