Despite mounting calls for his resignation, Republican South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford continues his fight to stay in office.

Sanford has scheduled a 3:30 PM news conference today at the statehouse in Columbia.

The news conference comes one day after Sanford received a letter, signed by 61 of the 72 Republicans controlling the South Carolina House of Representatives, asking for his resignation. On Tuesday, Republican House Speaker Bobby Harrell sent the governor a similar letter.

Despite the calls for resignation from within his own party, Sanford says he has no plans of stepping down.

Sanford, a fiscal conservative, has butted heads with many of these lawmakers in the past on issues of spending. But his unannounced trip to Argentina in June, followed by the revelation of his extramarital affair with Maria Belen Chapur, opened the door for attacks on the governor’s morals.

Even Sanford’s fiscal conservatism has come under attack, prompting the State Ethics Commission to investigate whether his taxpayer-funded travels in business class and his use of state aircraft violated South Carolina law.

In a letter to supporters yesterday, the governor accuses his opponents of “selective outrage” — indicating that business class travel on international economic development trips has been “standard practice” for previous governors, secretaries of commerce and state legislators. Sanford also writes that he has used state aircraft 33 to 50 percent less than the past three governors, when compared by four year terms.

While denying any fiscal impropriety, the governor does take responsibility for the affair or, in his words, “the original moral failure.” But he goes on to suggest the apparent death this inflicted on his political future may actually make him a more effective leader during the remainder of his term:

“Amidst this circus I think we have a genuine opportunity, and this is the only reason I am still here. Over the last six and one half years, too often opponents in Columbia believed I was running for President and as a consequence didn’t want to give ‘me’ a win on restructuring or some other legislative item. They blocked things in many cases not because of the idea, but because of me. It is now abundantly clear that I am not running for another office, and therefore, in these 16 months we have remaining — could we actually have a real debate on the structure of our government, on how we spend, and on adding tools to the tool kit for economic development and jobs?”

Sanford has been touring the state, speaking to civic groups as he makes his case to stay in office.

(Photo Credit: Associated Press)