EDGE Boston

The bombshell revelation that South Carolina governor Mark Sanford had disappeared to Argentina for a rendezvous with an extramarital romantic interest has failed to elicit calls fro the governor’s resignation from the state’s top officials-in part due to Bauer’s politics, though another factor may also be at work: rumors that the state’s Lieutenant Governor, Andre Bauer, is gay.

Bauer’s sexuality has been a topic of speculation before, most recently when openly lesbian South Carolina politician Linda Ketner, a failed candidate for one of the state’s congressional seats, "outed" several state officials, including Bauer, igniting a controversy about airing and repeating such allegations publicly.

A June 29 article at Politico noted that Bauer is viewed by some as a less desirable governor than the disgraced Sanford because Bauer seemingly is not against abortion in any and all cases.

Opponents with long memories also recall a 2006 incident in which Bauer was pulled over for speeding, driving a state-issued vehicle at a reported 101 miles per hour.
Those factors had led to an attack ad, which was pulled before airing, seeking to depict Bauer as "reckless and liberal," according to the Politico article.

The ad was supplied to Politico by an unidentified "top Republican source."

Though the Politico article did not specifically mention the rumors regarding Bauer’s sexuality, the article did refer to Facebook pages on which photos of women in skimpy outfits were posted.

The article quoted a Republican strategist, Chris LaCivita, with whom Bauer is working. The strategist slammed Bauer’s opponents as being "more interested in waging cheap political attacks than focusing on the people of South Carolina in a time of true crisis speaks volumes.

"And the fact that they are sending out ads that never aired demonstrates a pathetic level of desperation."

The article referred to Bauer as a "bachelor," and went on to quote LaCivitia further: "He’s an attractive, conservative Republican, single, straight--and he has a lots of attractive women that want to be his friend on his public Facebook and MySpace page,"

Added LaCivitia about opponents who would make an issue of the Facebook images, "What’s their complaint? I’ll tell you--they’re jealous."

LaCivitia depicted the Lt. Governor as "focused on his constitutional duties and responsibilities to the people," adding that Bauer’s rivals should "maybe... follow his example."

Bauer reportedly was the one who tipped off the media as to Sanford’s whereabouts, but Politico noted that Bauer had stated that he has refrained from taking a position with the governor as to whether he ought to resign.

Bauer is not the only one holding his tongue: the article noted that South Carolina’s GOP leaders, including state lawmaker Jim DeMint, who serves both as Speaker of the state’s House of Representatives and as the president pro tem of the state Senate, and SC Senator Lindsey Graham, has also refrained from calling for Sanford to step down.

The Politico article offered an explanation for this, quoting Francis Marion University professor of political science Neal Thigpen, who said, "There’s a lot of people who would like to get rid of Sanford but they think to themselves, ’My goodness me, then it will be Bauer.’"

However, there may be generalized sense that a change is needed: added Thigpen, "Three people came up to me tonight the grocery store and said, ’[Sanford has] lost his marbles.’"

Even as GOP leaders wait and watch to see whether Sanford’s conduct will being further problems (what Thigpen called a "drip, drip, drip"), which might eventually lead to a public demand for resignation from reluctant officials, for others the incident--the latest in a long string of GOP sex scandals--may signify a tipping point.

Some are calling now for the Republican party to forsake the politics of "holier than thou," with South Carolina Congressman Bob Inglis having issued a call for the party to follow his example and rid itself if the "stinking rot of self righteousness."