COLUMBIA, S.C. — Each Sunday afternoon in May, Gov. Mark Sanford and his wife hosted five other couples at the executive mansion for a spiritual “boot camp.”
Topics discussed during the hour-and- a-half-long sessions included forgiveness and “not loving your wife as Christ loved the church.” Group leader Warren “Cubby” Culbertson did not tell the other four couples what he and his wife, Susan, had known for months: The governor was having an affair with a woman in Argentina.
When Jenny Sanford confronted her husband in January after finding a letter to “Maria” among his official papers, the governor turned to Culbertson. For nearly six months, Culbertson has been the first couple’s spiritual counselor — and their secret-keeper.
The Sanfords “passed” the Culbertsons’ course with flying colors. A week later, Jenny Sanford asked her husband to leave their home.
In an interview at his Columbia office, just blocks from the statehouse, Culbertson said he believed his friend when he said this was his only marital transgression. He thinks Sanford was caught off guard by “the power of darkness.”
Culbertson also thinks that the only thing holding his friends’ marriage together right now is “their vow to God.”
“Because it’s not feelings — it’s not emotions,” Culbertson said, the smile fading from his tanned face. “For most Christians, at some point in your marriage, if you’re married long enough, you do it because that’s what we’re called to do — out of obedience instead of out of passion. And I think that’s where Mark and Jenny are right now.”
Meanwhile, the scandal has touched off a delicate political dance among fellow Republicans vying to replace Sanford when his term ends.
The most awkward shuffle is being done by Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer — Sanford’s second in command but not his ally — who would get an 18-month audition for the post were Sanford to resign.
Sanford told The Associated Press on Sunday he considered resigning but didn’t. He admitted last week to a yearlong affair with an Argentine woman, a confession that came after a trip to that country.
“The debate should be, ‘Is Mark Sanford in his heart of hearts comfortable in serving out his term?’ ” Bauer said Monday. “This is a dark cloud over South Carolina. We need to move swiftly and move forward.”
