She spends most the summer months with her four children at the family's Sullivan's Island beach house. She gets help from her husband, Gov. Mark Sanford, when he comes down from Columbia on weekends.

It's a job the first lady relishes, rather unlike the role she plays in the governor's administration the rest of the year.

Jenny Sanford, 42, came under fire from state lawmakers during the legislative session that just ended for her involvement in the uproar about whether to privatize state-owned Santee Cooper.

But her role in that matter is really just the beginning. In a recent interview, the first lady conceded that she participates in day-to-day operations of the state, including helping to make policy decisions. She is not a paid staffer, and her involvement comes at her husband's request, she said.

"I have been incredibly supportive of my husband," she said during an interview at the Governor's Mansion. "In a nontraditional way, I do help at his office ... and will continue to do so as long as he needs me.

"I wouldn't say I enjoy it," she added. "If I had my choice, I wouldn't be involved at all."

The first lady typically gets her children off to school and then goes to the governor's office about 10 a.m. to attend morning meetings. Then, her husband assigns her various jobs.

"I pretty much am in his office in the mornings most days, and I do pretty much anything he wants me to do for him," she said. "I help to bridge the gap between things that have been commonplace themes in his life and making sure everybody in the office is on pace with his agenda."

Mark and Jenny Sanford both declined to disclose the specific tasks, but the governor said her duties typically relate to numbers.

She does "anything and everything," said the governor. "She's particularly good with financial analysis (and) working with numbers."

He said the financial work done by his wife, a former Wall Street executive, is imperative to the decisions he makes as the leader of the state. "Data is the basis of all good decisions," he said.

It's not uncommon for first ladies to play a role in addressing issues important to them, but the level of Jenny Sanford's involvement in the business of the state is unparalleled in South Carolina and rare nationwide.

"They all have an issue, but this is a departure from the past," said Neal Thigpen, a South Carolina politics expert at Francis Marion University.

"Most first ladies are not involved in policy matters," he added. "It doesn't mean it's a bad thing, though."

Sanford has topics she promotes, such as the Healthy SC Initiative. She also controls the books for mansion operations, converting an initial deficit when she took over into a $70,000 profit this year, she said.

Then there are the ceremonial roles, filling in for her husband at events when he is away, such as a domestic violence rally on the Statehouse steps and the opening of Spoleto Festival USA.

Those duties are more akin to the role played by most first ladies. Thigpen said her additional function in the daily workings of the administration resembles what is seen on the national level with first ladies such as Eleanor Roosevelt and Hillary Rodham Clinton. Still, even that is rare, he said.

It's not that she has a political background. Her only exposure to lawmaking before her Republican husband got into politics in 1994 was a six-week clerical gig on Capitol Hill one summer during college.

She surprised political experts, though, when she successfully managed her husband's gubernatorial campaign in 2002. It was a massive undertaking and she had critics then, too. Some people charged her with being a tough boss and a hardball campaigner.

The latest criticism has come from lawmakers and the state Democratic Party concerning her involvement in the privatization study of Moncks Corner-based Santee Cooper.

The governor's wife attended several meetings with the public utility's directors in screening investment banks bidding to do a study about Santee Cooper's market value.

Sen. Bill Mescher, R-Pinopolis, termed her role in the proceedings "highly improper."

"She is not an employee of the state, and she was not elected to anything," he said at the time.

Jenny Sanford contended that she was not part of the decision-making process and only "knew the right questions to ask."

Lawmakers have grumbled about the first lady's activities in the past -- they claim she's the Sanford who actually writes the governor's annual budget proposal -- but Santee Cooper was the first time they outwardly attacked her involvement.

State Democratic Party Chairman Joe Erwin said he had a problem with her dealings because "it was happening secretly."

"She's a smart, professional woman, who can be an asset, but not if it's done secretly and the public doesn't know what her role is," Erwin said. "Does she escape accountability because she's a volunteer?"

Mark Sanford accused his wife's critics of being part of the state's "good ol' boy political network."

"I'd say there's a degree of blatant chauvinism," he said. "They say it's OK if you do traditional first lady things, but not OK to look at numbers of companies of financial concern to the state."

Both Mark and Jenny Sanford said their arrangement stems from viewing their marriage as a partnership. "She knows this is a passion for me and wants to be supportive," he said.

The governor said he hadn't made a decision yet about whether his wife would run his 2006 re-election campaign.