Mark Sanford 2013: Disgraced Ex-Gov. Caught Illegally Sneaking Around His Ex-Wife's House

Impact

According to a lawyer, former Republican South Carolina governor Mark Sanford trespassed at his ex-wife Jenny’s home earlier this year, the AP reports. He will be heading to court on May 9, only two days after the very-closely watched special elections. Although it is still unclear why exactly he violated the terms set by his divorce settlement, it is likely that this will not bode well at all for Sanford in the upcoming elections.

According to the AP, Jenny Sanford's attorney had filed a lawsuit on February 4, claiming that she had confronted her ex-husband the day before as he was leaving the house. Court documents, made public by Jenny, also reveal that he was using his cell phone as a flash light to navigate his way through the property.

This is also apparently not the first time he has trespassed onto his ex-wife's property. According to Jenny's lawyer, Deena Smith McRackan, Mark Sanford has "entered into a pattern of entering onto plaintiff's property. Plaintiff has informed defendant on a number of occasions that this behavior is in violation of the court's order and has demanded that it not occur again."

This is, however, not the first complaint lodged by Jenny against her ex-husband. In December of 2011, another complaint had been brought by Jenny Sanford claiming that Mark Sanford had failed to make the $5000 yearly contribution for one of their son’s college tuition. That matter, however, has since been taken care of.

Jenny says she isn’t trying to be malicious or get in her (cheating) ex-husband’s way as he runs in the upcoming elections not only for hers and his sake, but also for their kids. But, she says, "He makes things difficult for me when he does things like trespassing."

Although Sanford’s campaign has yet to make any comments regarding these accusations, this recent revelation is likely to hurt Sanford’s campaign as he attempts to revive the political career he had almost lost when he had an extremely publicized extra-marital affair with a woman from Argentina who is now his fiancé during his tenure as governor that resulted in his divorce.

At the same time, seeing that Sanford's affair has been front-and-center through-out the campaign, it is quite possible that this revelation could provide the nudge Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch needs to help push her over the edge in the May 7 elections.

Admittedly, it is still too soon to make any real assumptions about the special election. Despite Sanford's unpopularity following his affair, the district he is running in is still heavily Republican, stacking the odds against Colbert-Busch.

Regardless, the news of this incident has certainly been revealed at an unfortunate time for Sanford and it will be interesting to see how this effects the May 7 elections.