Emails Between Sanford and Mistress Reveal Love and Distress

June 26, 2009 by Suzanne Conlon

Wednesday, Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina, a potential Republican candidate for the 2012 presidential campaign, admitted to having a year-long affair with an Argentine woman known only as “Maria.”

Since then, details of the relationship have emerged in a number of emails between the two, which were acquired by Columbia-based newspaper, The State.  According to The State, the emails were acquired in December and the governor’s office confirmed their authenticity on Wednesday.

“My heart cries out for you, your voice, your body, the touch of your lips, the touch of your finger tips and an even deeper connection to your soul,” Sanford wrote to Maria last summer, according to the emails.

Sanford’s wife, Jenny Sanford, said in a written statement that she asked her husband for a “trial separation,” and so he was not at home over the past two weeks.  The statement says that she believes her husband has “earned a chance to resurrect our marriage.”

“This is a very painful time for us and I would humbly request now that members of the media respect the privacy of my boys and me as we struggle together to continue on with our lives and as I seek the wisdom of Solomon, the strength and patience of Job and the grace of God in helping to heal my family,” she said.

“It began very innocently as I suspect many of these things do.” Gov. Sanford said in a statement.  “Over this last year it developed into something much more than that.”

In an email dated July 4, 2008, Maria wrote to Sanford: “[Y]ou brought happiness and love to my life . . . .  I haven’t felt this way 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.”

On July 10, Sanford wrote back, “unfortunately all the feelings you describe are mutual . . . where do we go from here?”  In the same email he wrote, “I love your tan lines . . . the curves of your hips, the erotic beauty of you holding yourself” and “at the same time we are in a hopelessly—or as you put it impossible—or how about combine and simply say hopelessly impossible situation of love.”