COLUMBIA, S.C. - A Time magazine article this week calling Gov. Mark Sanford one of the nation's three worst chief executives might have left him feeling like a neighbor was badmouthing him.

That's because John Huey, editorial chief of the Time Inc. constellation of magazines, is a Sanford neighbor on Sullivans Island. Huey gave $250 to Sanford's 2002 gubernatorial bid, Time Inc. spokeswoman Dawn Bridges confirmed Monday.

The Republican Sanford says "there's more than a little irony" with the article, including neighbor Huey's top editorial role at Time.

Huey just stepped up to that job at Time last month, replacing Norman Pearlstine. Huey has been at Time for years and was a past editor of Fortune magazine.

"I've clearly ticked somebody off at Time. I don't think it's John," Sanford said Tuesday.

Huey says he's donated on a few occasion to political candidates, Bridges said. And when he has, it has been to "people I've personally known from both parties," Huey told Bridges.

The fact Sanford appeared in the article should make it clear that "personal relationships and donations do not affect" coverage, Huey said through Bridges.

Huey "was very aware of" the Sanford article and signs off on all major articles in the flagship magazine and others, Bridges said.

But Sanford isn't taking the article as a personal shot from a neighbor and donor. Huey is a neighbor who "I would bet disagrees with (what) folks in his Washington bureau came up with in a story," Sanford said. "In this case, I'd trust John Huey's judgment as a neighbor on Sullivans Island who knows me personally a whole lot more than I would a Washington bureau writer from 500 miles away."

The Time article notes criticism from unidentified state GOP leaders and the state's loss of its AAA credit rating from Standard and Poor's. He's in the company of Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco, a Democrat criticized for her handling of Hurricane Katrina recovery, and Ohio Gov. Bob Taft, a Republican who pleaded guilty in August to criminal charges of failing to report people paying for his golf outings.

Sanford wondered why others weren't on the list. For instance, he notes Illinois Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who is now dealing with federal prosecutor's subpoenas involving hiring practices at his state's prisons, child-welfare and transportation agencies; and Kentucky Republican Gov. Ernie Fletcher, who has seen 13 current or former administration officials charged with misdemeanors involving hiring decisions based on politics instead of the state's merit system. Fletcher has pardoned nine of them.

Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer has said the article is sign of a liberal magazine picking on a tax-cutting governor.

State Democratic Party leaders, hoping to pick off Sanford in next year's election, couldn't be happier with Time's article. "The governor earned his rating fair and square and instead of blaming the messenger, he needs to get to work creating jobs and improving schools," Lachlan McIntosh, the state party's executive director, said.

Sanford says he's heard more good than bad about the articles from supporters. Sanford said one told he "ought to wear this as a badge of honor."