Reporter of the year wows 'em at Winthrop

Gina Smith, who quite likely broke the biggest story of 2009 for a South Carolina journalist, visited our university earlier this week and spoke about her work.

Gina is a statehouse/government reporter for The State newspaper in Columbia, S.C.

She's the enterprising journalist who surprised S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford last June when he got off a jet in Atlanta (from a secret trip he made to Argentina to rendezvous with his mistress.)

The rest, as they say, is history.

Sanford and his wife are separated.

Some key legislators in South Carolina have called for his resignation.

A state Ethics Commission investigation has pointed to 37 potential ethics violations committed by the governor.

Impeachment proceedings might be on the horizon (or might not be.)

Even Sanford's dog abandoned him. (Well not really, but you get the picture.)

Sanford called a press conference soon after being interviewed by Gina at the airport. He came clean and seemed contrite, admitting that he had not been forthright to his staff and to others about where he had been (not hiking on the Appalachian Trail.)

Here's the million dollar question.

Had Gina not confronted him at the airport in Atlanta, would he have called that press conference and spilled his guts?

We'll probably never know.

In the pictures accompanying this blog are Gina Smith (dressed in black and holding the coffee mug), Kristen Gainey, president of the Winthrop chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists (sponsor of Gina's visit), and yours truly (the old blogster).

Thanks, Gina, for coming to Winthrop and sharing your story about that airport encounter with the gov.!