The strains of Latin music could soon be wafting from South Carolina’s executive mansion.
Embattled Gov. Mark Sanford is considering having his Argentine lover, who he has called his “soul mate,” join him at the Governor’s Mansion now that his wife and four sons have moved out, a Web site claims.
* The arrival of Maria Belen Chapur at the mansion in Columbia will “take time,” according to a source close to Sanford, reported FITS.com, a Web site run by Will Folks, who served as a Sanford spokesman until 2005.
Sanford’s wife, Jenny, was photographed by news media last week hauling boxes out of the Governor’s Mansion after announcing that she and the couple’s four school-aged sons would be heading back to the family home on Sullivan Island.
Sanford, at one time considered a top GOP presidential prospect in 2012, disappeared for nearly a week in late June to visit Chapur in Argentina. He didn’t tell his wife or his staff where he was going.
The governor and his wife have said they are trying to reconcile. When asked at a press conference this week if he is getting a divorce, Stanford replied with a curt “No.”