Jenny Sanford: Politics needs more women

CHARLESTON - Jenny Sanford, in perhaps one of her last official duties as South Carolina's first lady, said Thursday that not enough women are involved in politics in the state.

She received a standing ovation as she took the podium at a state GOP women's luncheon, telling the audience of about 200 that women have made strides since she came to the state but more needs to be done.

Jenny Sanford filed for divorce last year after Gov. Mark Sanford admitted to an affair with an Argentine woman. The divorce will be finalized next month.

"I was honored to serve this area first as a congressional spouse and I'm honored right now to be serving as first lady, at least for a little while longer," she said to scattered laughter from the crowd.

Before becoming governor, Sanford, with his wife overseeing his campaigns, was elected to Congress from the 1st Congressional District on the South Carolina coast.

Jenny Sanford, a Georgetown-educated, former Wall Street vice president, said in the two decades she has been in the state women have advanced in both business and politics.

"But we still have so far to go," she said. "We have very few women who are elected to office and very few women involved in the system."

Three former first ladies of Republican governors also were honored - Mary Wood Beasley, Iris Campbell and Anne Edwards.

Sanford said that during her time in the Governor's Mansion she was able to reorganize operations and save the state $1.5 million to date.

She left the mansion last summer after news of her husband's affair became public and is now living with the couple's four sons at their beach house on Sullivan's Island.

Sanford refused to answer questions as she left the luncheon.

Her memoir about dealing with her husband's infidelity is being published next week by Ballantine Books, an imprint of Random House Inc. The 240-page "Staying True" goes on sale Feb. 5.

This story was originally published January 29, 2010 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Jenny Sanford: Politics needs more women."