Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer's proposal to sell naming rights to public facilities is a bad idea.

Yes, the state is in dire financial straits, and, yes, that calls for new ways of thinking. But we must be careful.

Gov. Mark Sanford, widely known to be frugal, has suggested a number of new ways to save state money. He started with cutting the staff at the Governor's Mansion. Subsequently, he has asked state workers to double up in motel rooms when on business trips. Now he wants to get rid of thousands of state-owned vehicles. These ideas are more like decisions typically made in the home, not the government.

But selling the right to name public buildings, roads and bridges creates more problems than it solves.

For starters, corporate names often are confusing to the public. During the college football bowl season, with most bowls now going by corporate names, it's hard to distinguish one event from the other. The names often change, and the heritage, and even the location, of the bowls has become a blur.

Corporate names also can bring unwanted baggage to the beneficiary. Hilton Head Island's premier event, the MCI Heritage golf tournament, is a good example. Local organizers quickly dropped WorldCom as the title sponsor when the firm, which had been a long-time asset to the tournament, became embroiled in corporate scandal. That type of unexpected association with scandal is bad enough in the private sector. It would be a disaster for state-owned properties.

That problem could work both ways. A corporation may not want its name associated with a poorly maintained state road.

Corporate names on state buildings would create conflicts of interest. Whether it was true or not, the impression would be created that firms giving money to the state would have an unfair advantage over others in doing business with the state or being regulated by the state.

There also would be the problem of dealing with existing names on state buildings, roads and bridges. The names on state office buildings are there for a reason. They usually honor someone for long or exemplary service to the public. Those distinctions should not be sold to the highest bidder.

Give Bauer credit for sharing new ideas, but this is one that should be discarded.