Former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford Set To Wed Mistress

Former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford has confirmed his engagement to his mistress, an Argentine woman he secretly left the state to visit after telling people he was hiking the Appalachian Trail.

Yahoo! News reports that he confirmed his engagement to CNN and would only reference his original statement, even when speaking with The Associated Press on Sunday. Sanford stated:

“The only comment I’ll stand by is that there was a statement sent to CNN and I stand by its accuracy. I don’t know anything beyond that. I’d love to talk but we’re going to end up in no-man’s land.”

In explaining his affair with Maria Belen Chapur in 2009, the rising Republican political figure stated:

“I’ve been unfaithful to my wife. I developed a relationship with what started as a dear, dear friend from Argentina. It began very innocently as I suspect many of these things do, in just a casual email back and forth in advice on one’s life there and advice here. But here recently, over this last year, it developed into something much more than that.”

According to The Boston Herald, Mark Sanford proposed to his mistress on Wednesday in the Bella Italia Grille in the upscale Palermo neighborhood near Chapur’s luxury apartment. The couple are regular customers at the restaurant but arrived separately for their Wednesday engagement, according to the restaurant’s manager.

The manager, who declined to give his last name and said protecting his clients was paramount, stated, “We’re very discreet. They are, too. Nobody noticed. They really are private people.”

Are you surprised to learn that former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford is engaged to his mistress, Maria Belen Chapur?

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