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At Least It's Not Haunted

They are accommodations any college student might die for, but it's different when South Carolina's chief executive is sleeping on a futon in the pool house on the grounds of the governor's mansion.

They are accommodations any college student might die for, but it's different when South Carolina's chief executive is sleeping on a futon in the pool house on the grounds of the governor's mansion.

The wife and four sons of Governor Mark Sanford have moved two hours away to the family's home on Sullivan Island. The split is nothing personal. What's come between them is mold in the mansion, a veritable alphabet soup's worth, ranging from aspergillus to penicillium to stachybotrys.

It resides mainly in the air-conditioning system, although it also has been found on some clothing and around an electrical outlet. "If you walk in the mansion, you're not going to see mold everywhere," says Michael Sponhour, spokesman for the state Budget and Control Board, which oversees administrative matters of state.

The 19th-century mansion underwent a $5.6 million renovation three years ago. Last summer, first lady Jenny Sanford alerted the board to the presence of mold, as well as headaches and sinus problems suffered by family and staff members, but little action was taken. A 12-week cleanup project is now underway.

Mold is just one of the tribulations the family has experienced since taking up residence in the mansion. Upon their arrival in January 2003--in the middle of a fiscal year--they learned that the mansion's operating budget was nearly depleted. To help out, a local company donated grits, cornmeal, flour and biscuit and pancake mixes. And last fall, their 4-year-old son Blake made news when he was stuck in the mansion's elevator for 45 minutes before being rescued by fire fighters.

So far, though, no one's applied for hardship pay.

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