South Carolina newspaper waited six months to take Mark & Maria love e-mails public

Image by S Migol via Flickr

Here’s yet another reminder of the lack of privacy when it comes to electronic communication:

The State newspaper on Wednesday published excerpts of personal e-mails exchanged between South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford and the woman in Argentina with whom he has been having an extramarital affair.

via Sanford’s Love Letters Show Up Online – Political Hotsheet – CBS News.

The journalists at The State have actually had these juicy e-mails in hand since December, but they waited half a year to take them public.

Here’s the paper’s explanation for the delay:

E-mails, obtained by The State newspaper in December, between Gov. Mark Sanford and Maria, a woman in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

At the time, efforts to authenticate the e-mails were unsuccessful. However, Sanford’s office Wednesday did not dispute their authenticity.

via Exclusive: Read e-mails between Sanford, woman – The State.

Since we publish scandalous communications out of the legal world on Above The Law all the time, I know it’s not that hard to prove authenticity. The State must have decided it didn’t want to publish the letters, though it changed its mind when the globe-trotting governor had his breakdown this week.

Did the State really hold off on running the e-mails because they weren’t sure they were real? Or out of respect for Sanford and Maria’s privacy? Or because it didn’t think they were newsworthy? I tried calling the State’s newsroom, but the voice mail boxes are full down there and no one’s picking up the phones.

I’m all for transgressive love-infused (and “sic”-infused) e-mails making their way onto the Internets. Here’s my favorite passage, from Mark to Maria, on the beauty of “running the excavator.”

To me, and I suspect no one else on earth, there is something wonderful about listening to country music playing in the cab, air conditioner running, the hum of a huge diesel engine in the background, the tranquility that comes with being in a virtual wilderness of trees and marsh, the day breaking and vibrant pink coming alive in the morning clouds — and getting to build something with each scoop of dirt.

Poetic yet industrial.

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