Mitt Romney says Governers must 'live by a higher standard'

(Politico).Discussing disgraced South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a fellow Republican, said governors and other national leaders are expected “to live by a higher standard because … the culture of the nation” can be hurt by their failings.

“Seeing this family become healed is our highest priority,” Romney said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

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“At the same time – and not commenting particularly on Governor Sanford — … people in public life ought to be held to a higher standard. … I heard one … former governor say, ‘Well, everybody makes mistakes.’ Well, that’s true.

“But not all mistakes are the same. And not everybody is a governor or a senator or a president. And we expect [those] people to live by a higher standard, because what they do is going to be magnified, their families are going to be hurt more by what they do, the things they care about will be hurt, and the culture of the nation and the people who follow them will be hurt.”

Asked if Sanford should hold onto his job, Romney said: “His holding onto that job is really between him and his family and the people of South Carolina. It’s not for people outside the state to make pronouncements on. This is a matter which is really a heartbreaking matter, and that’s what I think you have to focus on. You’ve got a family in great distress.”