A look at SC governor’s meetings with mistress

A look at SC governor’s meetings with mistress

A timeline of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford’s meetings with his Argentine mistress, Maria Belen Chapur:

— 2001: Sanford and Chapur met in 2001 at an open air dance spot in Punta del Este, Uruguay. Sanford says they talked late into the night and he counseled Chapur about her failing marriage, but they were still just friends. They struck up an e-mail correspondence.

— 2004: Sanford and Chapur had coffee at a bistro in midtown Manhattan during the Republican National Convention. Still, he says, nothing romantic happened.

— June 2008: Sanford met Chapur in Buenos Aires during a state-funded trade mission to Brazil and Argentina. The itinerary originally included only Brazil, but Sanford asked for meetings in Argentina after a colleague scheduled a hunting trip to the country. He says that’s when their relationship turned physical.

— September 2008: Sanford and Chapur spent two nights together in Manhattan. Sanford says he flew coach, paid for the hotel in cash and told his staff he was reachable via cell phone.

— November 2008: Sanford and Chapur spent three nights together in the Hamptons, which Sanford also says he paid for in cash.

— January 2009: Sanford’s wife, Jenny, found out about the affair when she discovered a letter her husband had written to Chapur

— Late January or early February 2009: Sanford went to New York with a spiritual adviser to meet Chapur, intending to break up with her.

— June 2009: Sanford ditched his security detail to make a secret trip to be with Chapur and, he says, spent “five days of my life crying in Argentina.”