Sanford opens his office to public
COLUMBIA, S.C. --
People across South Carolina were eager to spend just five
minutes with their new governor.
Gov. Mark Sanford held his first "open door after 4" public
office hours on Wednesday.
Sanford planned to spend five hours Wednesday evening
visiting with constituents. Appointments for those five hours
filled up in a mere 12 minutes, said Sanford spokesman Chris
Drummond.
A second scheduled date, March 5, filled up in 15 minutes,
Drummond said.
To
meet the demand, the governor added another evening of
appointments on Feb. 19. That date also is full, Drummond
said.
Sanford will meet with an average of 46 people for about
five minutes on all three days.
In his State of the State speech, Sanford said he would set
aside an evening once a month meet with citizens in his
office.
"It's not a visit with my staff, it's not a visit with an
agency head, it's not a visit with an intern. That's a
personal visit with me," Sanford said last month. "They won't
be long visits, but anyone from anywhere in South Carolina
will be able to sit down their governor in the governor's
office, and I think that that's important in terms of
accessibility."
Sanford is not the first governor to hold office hours for
the public. Gov. David Beasley in 1996 held two open houses
where he met with residents for five minutes each.
--From the Thursday, February 6, 2003 online edition of
the Augusta Chronicle
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