South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford announced Thursday he would repay the
state for portions of a 2008 taxpayer-funded Latin American trade
mission during which he rendezvoused with his Argentine mistress.

In a statement released Thursday afternoon, Sanford said "while the
purpose of this trip was an entirely professional and appropriate
business development trip, I made a mistake while I was there in meeting
with the woman who I was unfaithful to my wife with. That has raised
some very legitimate concerns and questions, and as such I am going to
reimburse the state for the full cost of the Argentina leg of this trip.”
The trade mission, which Sanford led along with longtime friend and
South Carolina Commerce Secretary Joe Taylor, included business
development and trade meetings in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Buenos Aires,
Argentina, between June 21 and June 28, 2008.

One week after its conclusion—on July 4—Sanford emailed his mistress,
who has been identified by Argentine press as 43-year-old Maria Belen
Shapur: “Know that I miss you. Unbeleivably (sic) hard to imagine it has
been a week.”

She responded: “I wasn’t aware till we met last week, the strong
feelings I had for you, and believe me, I haven’t felt this since I was
in my teen ages, when afterwards I got married. I do love you, I can
feel it in my heart, and although I don’t know if we’ll ever be able to
meet again this has been the best that has happened to me in a long time
You made me realized (sic) how you feel when you realy (sic) love
somebody and how much you want to be beside the beloved. Last Friday I
would had stayed embrassing (sic) and kissing you forever.”

On Wednesday, when Sanford confessed to the affair during a tearful and
rambling press conference, he said he had known the woman for eight
years, but that their affair had only begun one year ago.

That’s almost exactly the timeframe of the week-long trade mission,
which included a delegation of about 30 South Carolina business and
political leaders. Their agenda called for them to attend meetings in
Sao Paulo before heading to Cordoba, Argentina, for a day of “personal
time,” on June 24, then on to Buenos Aires on June 25 for more meetings.

Taylor’s spokeswoman Kara Borie in a statement issued Thursday afternoon
confirmed that Sanford skipped the Cordoba leg and instead went straight
to Buenos Aires “for official state meetings.”

from Politco.