Over Gov. Mark Sanford's dead body, the General Assembly last week completed its legislative takeover of the S.C. Public Service Authority - Santee Cooper. So angry were the vast majority of legislators that the governor had had the audacity - the gall - to suggest that the state-owned utility might contribute more money to other agencies that they smashed his veto of the takeover bill. His role in Santee Cooper and that of future S.C. governors now is virtually meaningless.

True, Sanford's handling of his dispute with the legislature over Santee Cooper, which broke out in 2003, was clumsy. Perhaps blind to emotional qualities of the utility's relationship with South Carolinians, he lectured legislators on ways that the state might derive greater profit from ratepayers, reducing pressure on the tax base. Because he had the power to hire and fire utility board members at will, his ideas roiled a populace that likes Santee Cooper just fine as it is.

All legislators needed to do to calm folks down was remove that hiring and firing power so board members could serve out their terms. But the bill they crammed down Sanford's throat goes much farther - screening of prospective board members by a legislatively appointed panel, for instance, and making board members personally liable for behaving inappropriately. The latter provision is especially objectionable because it will deter capable South Carolinians from serving on the board. Who in his right mind would want the risk and aggravation?

The hope must be that a future legislature corrects this problem in short order, giving whoever happens to be governor an executive role in shaping the board. In declaring that the Santee Cooper legislation is a throwback to the post-Reconstruction era, when S.C. legislators usurped executive functions and accountability suffered as a result, Sanford is unquestionably correct.