Sanford’s wife talks of forgiving

Jenny Sanford’s e-mailed statement was her first public comment since her husband said earlier this week that his mistress is his soul mate but that he is trying to fall back in love with his wife.

“My forgiveness is essential for us both to move on with our lives, with peace, in whatever direction that may take us,’’ Jenny Sanford said in the statement. “Mark has stated that his intent and determination is to save our marriage, and to make amends to the people of South Carolina. I hope he can make good on those intentions, and for the sake of our boys.’’

She said it is up to South Carolina voters and elected officials to decide whether they can give the governor another chance.

Sanford returned last week from a secret trip to Argentina to see his mistress, Maria Belen Chapur.

His staff had told the public he was hiking the Appalachian Trail, and he later apologized for misleading them.

Jenny Sanford said last week that she learned of the affair in January, when she discovered a letter Sanford had written to Chapur. She said he had repeatedly asked permission to go to Argentina to see Chapur, but she denied it.

Meanwhile, the embattled Republican brushed aside calls to resign as State Police officials said they had found he used no taxpayer money to see Chapur during two visits to Argentina and three meetings in New York.

The governor also released his travel records to the media. He has already given the state treasurer two personal checks totaling $3,300 to cover costs for the part of the 2008 economic development trip where his relationship with Chapur turned physical, he has said. The two first met at an open-air dance spot in Uruguay in 2001.

Also yesterday, a publisher said it has terminated Sanford’s deal to write a book on fiscal conservatism.

A spokesman for the publisher said the decision to drop the book titled “Within Our Means’’ was a mutual one between the governor and the publisher, Sentinel, a dedicated conservative imprint within Penguin Group (USA) Inc.