Kaine says he sees S.C. governor’s problems as a sad family issue

Revelations that an international, extramarital affair was behind the recent unexplained absence of South Carolina Republican Gov. Mark Sanford would seem like great ammunition for Democrats seeking to knock the GOP on off balance.
But Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, who is also chairman of the Democratic National Committee, refused to unload.
“My main reaction once I realized… it’s a family issue,“ Kaine told listeners during his monthly radio call-in program on WRVA in Richmond. Kaine said he knew Sanford and his family from Sanford’s membership in the Southern Governors Association.
“I just really felt sad for them,“ Kaine added. “And that still is my main reaction. I just feel sad.“
Sanford yesterday admitted traveling to Buenos Aires, Argentina, last week for a tryst with a woman with whom he had been having an affair over the past year.
The South Carolina leader, who recently made headlines for his opposition to accepting federal stimulus money from President Barack Obama, was a darling among fiscal conservatives and had been mentioned as a possible contender for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination.
“People in public life, they think they’re not going to get caught if they cheat, if they do something wrong—they’re going to,“ said Kaine. “People in office have the same flaws and foibles that average folks do, but your life is not your own. “
Initially, Sanford’s staff was told that the governor had gone off on his own to hike the Appalachian Trail, a favorite escape of Kaine’s, who vacations along the trail every spring with his family—and members of the Virginia State Police executive protection unit assigned to him
Kaine said his securtiy detail never leaves him. “Everybody always knows where I am.“
During this morning’s broadcast, the Sanford debacle segued to the lesser controversy surrounding Kaine, who recently has been criticzed by state Republican leaders for the out-of-town trips he’s taken on behalf of his part time job as DNC chairman.
The leaders have charged Kaine has been shortchanging Virginia, in terms of the time he’s spending for the DNC and the cost of his police protection while on DNC duty outside the commonwealth.
Kaine said that a review of previous Virginia governors showed none reimbursed the commonweatlh for security costs incurred during political trips outside the state. That would include former Gov. Jim Gilmore, who served as Republican National Committee chairman while in office.
Still, Kaine said he has kept records of the security expenditures and has instructed the DNC to reimburse the commonwealth for the costs, which he said are “less than $10,000” during his first six months on the DNC job.
“That’s not what previous governors have done, but I think it’s the right thing to do and I’m glad to do it,“ Kaine said.
The governor said he typically spends one day a week out of state on behalf of the party, and part of a day at party headquarters when he travels to Northern Virginia on state business. Kaine said Virginians are getting their money’s worth despite the demands of his other job.
“When I’m on those (out-of-state) visits I end up doing a lot of state work by phone or having meetings that are state-related,“ Kaine said.
“I work all the time on state business—you can’t get from it when your governor.  The key, ultimately, is how is the state doing,“ he added, saying Virginia has a lower unemployment rate than most of the nation and has been handling the ongoing recession better than most states.
Kaine also said his part time job has paid dividends in the commonwealth, allowing him access to “make the case…right to the decision makers”  in the federal government.
“Working closely with the president in the White House does not have a downside for Virginia,“ he said.