[Updated 15 May 2013] – Well, it’s been a long, strange trip for Mark Sanford, the centerpiece of this post.  After being forced from office for his hiking trip to Argentina, he has resurfaced and become a congressman for South Carolina.  In honor of that dubious distinction, I repost this so that it is on record that this man attended Bildeberg as the Governor of South Carolina, and I proved it…Mark, wherever you are, may your days in Congress be just as fruitful as your term as Governor…

As Bilderberg 2012 just finished, AND it took place at the same spot as in 2008, I thought I should post about what happened back then with (then) Governor of South Carolina, Mark Sanford.

If you do a search of new’s from early to mid-summer 2008, there was a lot of talk of Gov Sanford being the “probable” pick of John McCain for Vice-president.

For instance:

Gov. Mark Sanford on short list of supposed McCain running mates
(http://www.independentmail.com/news/2008/feb/08/gov-mark-sanford-short-list-supposed-mccain-runnin/)

Conservative Keene Urges McCain Not to Pick Huckabee for Ticket
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aqHIpfVnJn9A&refer=home
IF SHARED VISION COUNTS, PAWLENTY IS ON THE LIST GOVERNOR’S DESCRIPTION OF SUITABLE MCCAIN RUNNING MATE APPEARS TO BE A GOOD FIT
(http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=PD&s_site=twincities&p_multi=SP&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_
maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=11F144BFA2619ED8&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackva
l=GooglePM)

McCain Aides: Nobody Has A Lock On VP Choice (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/02/13/usnews/whispers/main3827551.shtml)

So, it was with some synchronicity that he was invited to Bilderberg, or was he? Remember, this is also the year that there  was highly credible evidence that Obama and Hillary ALSO attended (and we all know that they went head to head in the summer  of 2008 for the Democratic nomination, but right after Bilderberg, Obama became the clear front  runner)…http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9270

But back to Mark. Though he was on the official guest list (https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B-YeEgq5sO7NNHpIUHVPY3BBTTA), no one had him admitting that he attended…until I came into the picture. In a clear-cut case of proving that Bilderberg is not just a “conspiracy” theory, I proved that Sanford DID attend and it was in connection with his possibility as a pick for VP…

Below is the correspondence I had with the State newspaper (www.thestate.com), a Columbia, SC based newspaper, on finding out if Sanford attended.

As Mark was eventually thrown out of office for an affair started in this very same year, and was also quickly eliminated as a VP for McCain AFTER Bilderberg, is it possible he was “taken down”? I leave that to you, but here are the facts as I found them:

My original email to the State newspaper:

—–Original Message—–
From: Ingham, Raymond [mailto:]
Sent: Saturday, June 07, 2008 7:49 AM
To: Brook, Steve
Subject: Question regarding Gov Sanford

Can you confirm if Governor Sanford has or will attend the Bilderberg Conference in Chantilly, Virginia this weekend and/or week? I have seen that his name is on the official list of attendees. This is information that all SC residents should be aware of if true, as this is an international meeting of all heads of state that has nothing to do with SC…

Raymond Ingham
MCSE, CNA

Here is the reply: (You can view an archived copy of the story he quotes HERE: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B-YeEgq5sO7NSTlfaEpnaWNkWTA)

— On Tue, 6/17/08, Brook, Steve <sbrook@thestate.com> wrote:
From: Brook, Steve <sbrook@thestate.com>
Subject: RE: Question regarding Gov Sanford
To: “Ingham, Raymond”
Date: Tuesday, June 17, 2008, 5:11 PM

Mr. Ingham,

He went.

Based on your tip, we wrote an item that ran on B3 of Sunday’s paper.

Hopefully, you saw it!

Sanford Watch
Signs that South Carolina’s chief executive has designs on higher office
There is still some vice presidential buzz on Gov. Mark Sanfordcq — and
he didn’t quash any of it by attending a secretive, international ideas
conference in Virginia last weekend.
Sanford attended the Bilderberg Conference, paying his own way to sit
among national and international leaders who discussed business and
technological trends.
The governor, in accordance with the wishes of conference organizers,
would not say who his fellow attendees were.
Previous conferences, however, have been attended by European royalty
and American senators, governors and presidents. A recent attendee was
Democratic presidential candidate and South Carolina native John Edwards.
The goal of the ultra-secretive conference, reportedly first held in the
1950s, is to promote better understanding between U.S. and European leaders.
(Some have come to see the conference as a nefarious effort to take over the
world.)
So why would a governor of a small state participate in such a
gathering?
“Because I was invited,” Sanford said. “It was kind of like going to
school, in that there were interesting and smart people who would be
discussing all the major issues facing our world.”

thanks

Steve Brook
Deputy managing editor/newsroom
The State
P.O. Box 1333
Columbia, S.C. 29202
Phone: (803) 771-8464
Fax: (803) 771-8430
sbrook@thestate.com
http://www.thestate.com
And finally, here is what I intended to send to every news organization in the State of SC IF Sanford was chosen as McCain’s VP:
TEXT OF EMAIL CONCERNING MARK SANFORD, GOVERNOR OF SC; TO BE SENT TO MAJOR MEDIA OUTLETS AND SENATORS/CONGRESSMEN OF SC

I will not send this unless he becomes the VP candidate…

I would respectfully request you look into the following matter, as it concerns not only the citizens of South Carolina, but all American citizens. Governor Mark Sanford has admitted attending the Bilderberg Conference in Chantilly, Virginia, which took place 5-8 Jun 2008.

The background to why he admitted the attendance and it’s serious implications are as follows.

On 07 Jun 2008, I sent an email to Steve Brook, Deputy Managing Editor for the State newspaper in Columbia, SC. In the email, I stated the following:

“Can you confirm if Governor Sanford has or will attend the Bilderberg Conference in Chantilly, Virginia this weekend and/or week? I have seen that his name is on the official list of attendees. This is information that all SC residents should be aware of if true, as this is an international meeting of all heads of state that has nothing to do with SC…”

I based this statement on the Bilderberg group releasing (under pressure from scrutiny of various groups who follow this topic) an announcement of their event through Business Wire (www.businesswire.com) on 05 Jun 2008, titled “Bilderberg announces 2008 conference”. The official list had been leaked prior to this announcement.
You can view a copy of this list at: http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/bilderberg_list_2008.html

You can see by viewing the list of attendees it is made up of national and international CEO’s, Central Bank heads, and heads of government. It also included Secretary of State Rice, FRB Head Bernanke, and the NY Fed Reserve Bank chairman. There is also speculative reason to believe that Senator’s Clinton and Obama attended during the incident of their “secret meeting” during the same weekend as the place of the conference is only 12-15 miles from the supposed meeting place of Clinton / Obama..

One of the attendee’s on the list was Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina.

As far as I know, no information regarding his attendance had been made public.

On 17 Jun 2008, I received the following reply from Mr. Brook:

Mr. Ingham,

He went.

Based on your tip, we wrote an item that ran on B3 of Sunday’s paper.

Hopefully, you saw it!

Sanford Watch
Signs that South Carolina’s chief executive has designs on higher office
There is still some vice presidential buzz on Gov. Mark Sanford — and he didn’t quash any of it by attending a secretive, international ideas conference in Virginia last weekend.
Sanford attended the Bilderberg Conference, paying his own way to sit among national and international leaders who discussed business and technological trends.
The governor, in accordance with the wishes of conference organizers, would not say who his fellow attendees were.
Previous conferences, however, have been attended by European royalty and American senators, governors and presidents. A recent attendee was Democratic presidential candidate and South Carolina native John Edwards.
The goal of the ultra-secretive conference, reportedly first held in the 1950s, is to promote better understanding between U.S. and European leaders. (Some have come to see the conference as a nefarious effort to take over the world.)
So why would a governor of a small state participate in such a gathering?
“Because I was invited,” Sanford said. “It was kind of like going to school, in that there were interesting and smart people who would be discussing all the major issues facing our world.”

thanks

Steve Brook
Deputy managing editor/newsroom
The State
P.O. Box 1333
Columbia, S.C. 29202
Phone: (803) 771-8464
Fax: (803) 771-8430
sbrook@thestate.com
http://www.thestate.com

I submit the following observations based on the above story, available at http://www.thestate.com/politics/story/434440.html:

a. Governor Sanford admitted he attended Bilderberg only after being directly asked. No public statement had been made prior to the meeting.
b. The Governor admits that he cannot say who his fellow attendees are (although an official list is freely available).
c. The story admits it is a “ultra-secretive conference” “attended by European royalty and American senators, governors, and Presidents”
d. The Bilderberg conference is not open to the public, and is by attendance only, limited to the top 140 elite in the world (Please view BBC report http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4290944.stm)
e. Governor Sanford attended as the governor of South Carolina (He appears on the list as Governor Mark Sanford).
f. Governor Sanford “secretly” attended this meeting consisting of foreign Heads of State and corporation heads.
g. Governor Sanford states that he paid his own way, according to the story.

I would respectfully ask that you look further into this event as it affects not only the people of South Carolina, but the citizens of the United States. I do not believe Governor Sanford paid for the travel to this event (this was a “secret” event; how did he get there without being noticed? What kind of “entourage” accompanied him? Where did the payment for the additional security, etc, come from?) If the Governor has paid for this trip, I believe under full disclosure he should be asked to show proof that the citizens of South Carolina did not pay for this trip. More importantly, that NO outside entity paid for this trip. Governor Sanford does not represent or serve at the pleasure of world bankers, corporations and governments. He serves at the pleasure (and expense) of the citizens of South Carolina. It is imperative that he be made accountable to the citizens of South Carolina on this issue. The very fact that he attended a “secret” meeting where he “would not say who his fellow attendees were” completely subverts the idea of an open and transparent government.

Again, I reiterate with the utmost seriousness the fact that his attendance would not have been disclosed had I not inquired and the State newspaper asked. Governor Sanford is a PUBLIC and ELECTED servant of South Carolina, and is accountable to us. There are no “secrets” that I am aware of dealing with the state government…
Finally, the seriousness of the Bilderberg Conference cannot be over-stated. Only 140 individuals from around the world are invited to the ultra-secret meeting of the world’s elites. Please note the number of attendees in the new’s since Bilderberg and what they are saying…

A quick look at news articles in the last few days (just 2 weeks after the Bilderberg conference) supports my concern:

a. 13 Jun 08 – In a Washington Post article (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/12/AR2008061204008.html), it is stated that Vernon Jordan has key ties to influential connections, and has “incomparable connections to the heads of J.P. Morgan Chase, along with the Federal Reserve, Secretary of Treasury and the President of the United States”. Please note that the story also cites Jim Johnson, the person who was until recently the head of the search time for Barak Obama’s VP. It also affirms he attends Bilderberg.
a. The Chairman of the Washington Post (Donald E Graham) attended Bilderberg
b. Vernon Jordan attended Bilderberg
c. The Secretary of the Treasury (Henry Paulson) and the Head of the Federal Reserve Bank (Ben Bernanke) attended Bilderberg
d. Jim Johnson attended Bilderberg prior to his resigning as head of the VP selection committee.
e. It should be remembered that J.P. Morgan was the company that bailed out Bear Stearns through coordination with the Treasury Secretary and Federal Reserve Bank.
b. 18 Jun 08 – The Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/06/18/cmstockmarket18.xml) reports that the Royal Bank of Scotland has advised clients to brace “for a full-fledged crash in global stock and credit markets over the next 3 months as inflation paralyses the major central banks”.  How prophetic!
a. Tom McKillop, Chairman of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group, attended Bilderberg
c. 16 Jun 08 – The Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/06/18/cmstockmarket18.xml) reported a “..clash between the European Central Bank and the US Federal Reserve over monetary strategy…”. Interestingly, both the head of the European Central Bank (Jean-Claude Trichet) and the Federal Reserve (Ben Bernanke) attended the Bilderberg Conference. The article also states that the Washington Post suggested runaway oil costs will cause a slump in growth. The Chairman and CEO of the Washington Post, Donald E. Graham, attended the Bilderberg Conference.
d. On 19 Jun 08, the Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/18/AR2008061803225.html?wpisrc=newsletter )
reported that the Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. (also attended the Bilderberg Conf) is calling for sweeping powers be given to the Federal Reserve Bank.
“We should quickly consider how to appropriately give the Fed the authority to access necessary information from highly complex financial institutions and the responsibility to intervene in order to protect the system.”
The story also states that the New York Federal Reserve President Timothy F. Geithner (Attendee at the Bilderberg Conf) stated that a “…broad rethinking of how the government should try to prevent the actions of an individual firm from endangering everyone…” (my comment:  …again very prophetic as the crash of 2008 was just a few month’s ahead…was this all decided at Bilderberg?)

e. Jim Johnson, in charge of Sen Obama’s team that was searching for a VP, until he resigned on 11 Jun after his ties to special interests were revealed, also attended the Bilderberg Conference. It should be noted that he resigned AFTER the conference
a. Richard Holbrooke, the Vice Chairman of Perseus, LLC (Of which Jim Johnson was also Vice Chairman) also attended.
f. Other than Governor Sanford, the only other currently elected politician who attended Bilderberg was Kathleen Sebelius, Governor of Kansas. It should be noted that she is the #1 favorite for VP selection as Obama’s running mate, according to a wide variety of news sources(i.e., http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/10/kathleen-sebelius-complet_n_106219.html) (my comment:  Of course, she ended up becoming the Secretary for HHS)
g. It is also widely reported that Governor Mark Sanford is a favorite pick for McCain’s VP and in fact, is so stated in the State’s story above. So, the two top favorites as VP just happen to be hand-picked to attend the most secret conference in the world, comprised of the most powerful and influential people in the world…
h. On 19 Jun, the Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/19/AR2008061903232.html?wpisrc=newsletter) reported that Royal Dutch Shell is one of 4 oil companies to secure two-year, no-bid contracts to “help develop it’s (i.e., Iraq) oil resources, allowing them to consolidate their positions…”. The Chairman of Royal Dutch Shell, Jorma Ollila, attended the Bilderberg Conference. It is interesting to note that the report also states “Secretary of State Condoleeze Rice…stated the U.S. Government played no role in securing the deals”, yet she was an attendee at Bilderberg also.
i. The director of the National Security Agency (NSA), Keith B. Alexander, attended Bilderberg. This is very interesting because, according to his official biography at the NSA website (http://www.nsa.gov/about/about00022.cfm), “he is responsible for a Department of Defense agency with national foreign intelligence and combat support responsibilities for NSA/CSS’s civilian and military personnel stationed worldwide. As Commander, JFCC-NW, he is responsible for planning, executing and managing forces for coordinating DoD computer network defense (CND) as directed by USSTRATCOM…”. The other important item attributed to the NSA is that on 20 Jun 2008, the New York Times reported (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/20/washington/20fisa.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin) that Congress strikes deal to overhaul wiretap law: “…In the wiretapping program approved by Mr. Bush after the Sept. 11 attacks, the White House asserted that the president had the constitutional authority to act outside the courts in allowing the National Security Agency to focus on the international communications of Americans with suspected ties to terrorists and that Congress had implicitly authorized that power when it voted to use military force against Al Qaeda…”. The question of why the head of the NSA would attend a secret meeting of the world’s elites is certainly a disturbing one.

In all of these instances, it can be clearly seen that whatever reason the Governor attended, it should not have been in secrecy, and should be disclosed to the citizens of South Carolina. Again, this meeting was a hand-picked list of 140 of the world’s elite political, economic, and corporate leaders who met in SECRET. There were a few reporters in attendance (i.e., Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, etc), and they also were sworn to secrecy; that is why no one reads anything about it…

In closing, I respectfully ask that your organization inquire into:

a. Whether Governor Mark Sanford travelled to Chantilly, Va on or about 5-8 Jun, 2008 at his own personal expense. Full disclosure being in the form of proof that he travelled at his own personal expense.
b. That Governor Mark Sanford attest and affirm that he travelled to Chantilly, Virginia to attend the Bilderberg Conference as a private citizen, and not in any way in the capacity as Governor of the state of South Carolina.
c. If Governor Sanford attended because he is the Governor of South Carolina, I respectfully ask that you inquire as to whether this is a violation of the Logan Act, in as much as he would be conferring with foreign heads of state and commerce in violation of the afore-mentioned act (a copy of the act and it’s history can be found at http://ftp.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL33265.pdf
I will also be sending this request to all senators and congressmen of the State of South Carolina…

Thank you…
Raymond Ingham