South Carolina Senate Majority Leader Harvey Peeler (R-Cherokee) issued the following statement Thursday:

"I'm deeply disturbed that NO ONE knew where Governor Sanford was over the last five days. He left the country and deliberately made himself unavailable without delegating power to the Lt. Governor. In the process he misled his staff who unknowingly misled the public.

These actions could have had drastic consequences in the case of an emergency. We cannot let the Governor's personal life overshadow his public responsibility, or in this case, his negligence of gubernatorial authority."