McMaster: examining report on Sanford is part of the job

The seven House members working on the resolution on the possible impeachment of Governor Mark Sanford are not the only ones examining the 1388 page State Ethics Commission report on the investigation of Sanford. South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster is carefully examining the document in order to glean any possible grounds for criminal charges to be filed against Governor Sanford. Appearing on Fox News Wednesday morning, McMaster, an announced candidate for the Republican nomination for governor in 2010, says his critics are wrong in suggesting that there is a conflict of interest in his efforts in examining the report. He is simply doing his job.
“If you try hard enough you can perceive some sort of conflict in any case, but that’s no reason to abandon the responsibility that comes with my job. I took an oath not once but twice. My job as Attorney General is to handle the cases and let the cards fall where they may.”
McMaster blames his critics for being shortsighted and having a political agenda. “The criticism I’m getting is coming from political sources. There are 10 of us (5 republicans and 5 democrats) running for Governor Sanford’s job when he leaves, and most of this criticism is just coming from political sources that have one angle or another.”
One of Sanford’s attorneys Butch Bowers, last week described the accusations in the Ethics Commission report as “minor, technical matters” and said the public would eventually learn that the governor had been a good steward of taxpayers’ dollars.