A letter writer on this page today urges the sale of the S.C. Public Service Authority, better known as Santee Cooper, the state-owned public water and power utility. It should be noted, however, that the issue isn't before the General Assembly. Further, it isn't likely to be in our lifetimes. Unfortunately, a bill that passed the Senate and now is in the House would diminish the power of reform-minded Gov. Mark Sanford over the utility.

It's true the sale of Santee Cooper has been much discussed in the Legislature this year, but primarily by those who are trying to alarm customers and supporters of the utility. They know very well that the governor can't sell Santee Cooper. Only the Legislature can do that. And those who don't want to rock the Santee Cooper boat have a formidable alliance that includes the state's electric cooperatives that purchase power from Santee Cooper and all those who have benefited from the utility's generous donations over the years.

The governor's prime interest in Santee Cooper has been to determine if the state is being shortchanged by the public utility in its return to the treasury. He urged, for example, the sale of surplus property and questioned the utility's long-standing practice of giving millions of dollars away to various organizations. After a Legislative Audit Council review some years ago, the board did halt political contributions and some of the more blatantly questionable handouts. But the governor recognized the validity of the audit council's questions about a public utility making charitable donations to any organization, no matter how righteous the cause.

It took a controversy over the utility's funding of a golf tournament and a change in board membership to set Santee Cooper on a course to eventually end the charitable donations. But legislative opponents have seized on the board's agreement to seek an assessment of the utility's value and the governor's interest in that assessment to further fan the Santee Cooper sale scare, even though they know their colleagues would never let that happen.

They are out to show the governor who's boss. The bill would strip him of his authority to replace members at will and to make interim appointments, require the board to get prior approval from lawmakers before even considering surplus land sales, and mandate the screening of appointees before the governor could submit them for confirmation to the Senate. Further, the cooperatives would have even more power on the board with a requirement that four rather than one of the 11 members have that background.

While one of the co-authors, Sen. Luke Rankin of Horry, portrayed the bill to The Associated Press as making Santee Cooper more accountable, in fact, it further removes board members from the governor's oversight. It is the governor, not the Senate, who is accountable to all the voters.