Michael Covington, the agency's lobbyist, told The Greenville News no taxpayer money was used to produce about two dozen CDs of the tune labeled the "Spelling Song" that were distributed at the party Thursday after the Legislature adjourned.
The lyrics describe what each letter of Sanford's name stands for. "And D we save for last, cause it stands for ...," the lyrics read. "This man really doesn't have a clue."
The song says that the R stands for Sanford's "rich wife," while the N stands for "his naive proposals."
"I admit it was a little rough," he said of the song. "I am a little bit distraught about this thing."
Asked about the song on Friday before he had listened to it, Sanford said the Transportation Department has "shown a lot of talent over there for doing a lot things that have nothing to do with building roads."
"If a taxpayer-paid lobbyist at DOT wants to try and make something personal, that's obviously not something we've got control over," Sanford spokesman Will Folks said later in the day after the governor had heard the song.
Covington said he and other lobbyists have been writing and performing political parody songs at the lobbyists' yearly event going back to the 1980s. "It's a long tradition."
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Information from: The Greenville News, http://www.greenvillenews.com/