South Carolina lawmakers to take up impeachment of governor

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Harrison told The Associated Press he is appointing an ad-hoc committee of four Republicans and three Democrats who will begin meeting Tuesday. He said he expects to have a resolution to impeach ready before Christmas for the full Judiciary Committee to consider.

Sanford spokesman Ben Fox declined to comment.

Sanford attorney Butch Bowers said his firm is representing Sanford in the impeachment hearing and "we look forward to cooperating with the House throughout this process."

Sanford, a Republican, left the state for five days in June to rendezvous with his Argentine lover. Since he returned and tearfully confessed the affair, he has faced questions about his travel and whether he should be removed from office for misconduct. He has resisted calls to resign.

The meeting is to take up the issue at the heart of an impeachment resolution that four Republicans filed this week. It says Sanford left no one in charge of the state, a dereliction of duty, while he "directed members of his staff in a manner that caused them to deceive and mislead the public officials" about where he was. His staff told reporters he was hiking the Appalachian Trail.