Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford is engaged to his girlfriend, an Argentinian news outlet is reporting.
Sanford has not responded to an emailed request for comment from The Daily Caller, which cannot confirm the report.
The news site Clarín reported in its Lifestyle section Friday evening that Sanford proposed to María Belén Chapur in the middle of the day Wednesday at the Bella Italia Grill in the Palermo barrio of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Clarín describes the restaurant as a favorite of Chapur, a journalist and business executive. Sanford reportedly arrived early and handed the ring in a bag, or pouch, to one of the servers. Sanford then hid himself in the handicapped bathroom for more than an hour before Chapur arrived.
The server approached Chapur and presented her with the pouch, saying that she had won an award for being the hundredth customer of the day. Chapur reportedly opened the pouch and found the ring, and looked confused. Sanford then appeared from his hiding spot and declared his love for her.
Clarín reports that the couple then kissed, cried and promised to love each other forever.
Sanford, a father of four, and his wife, Jenny, divorced in February 2010, eight months after he admitted to being unfaithful during his second term as South Carolina’s governor.
He famously misled the public, saying that he was hiking the Appalachian Trail, when in fact he was visiting Chapur in Argentina. He declared her his “soul mate” and after an apparently brief period of trying to reconcile with Jenny, he continued his relationship with Chapur.
He was once floated as a possible Republican candidate in the 2012 election cycle.
