One of Gov. Mark Sanford's most visible duties is done: His Cabinet is filled.

When Sanford named former Marine aviator James McClain as his director of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services last week, he completed his 11-member advisory panel.

The terms of two other Cabinet members -- SLED Chief Robert Stewart and Public Safety Director Boykin Rose -- have not yet expired.

True to his nature, Sanford often eschewed established, experienced state government employees for his Cabinet. Instead, he chose people whose views he shared, whose passions he appreciated.

Consider:

• Commerce Secretary Bob Faith; Parks, Recreation and Tourism director Chad Prosser; and McClain all come to their new jobs with no state government experience whatsoever.

• Corrections director Jon Ozmint has zero experience in the prison system, although he was once a prosecutor.

• Lee Catoe, director of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services, served on the Workers Compensation Commission and served Gov. Carroll Campbell as an assistant on health issues. His experience with substance abuse services, however, is limited.

All of these people might lack direct experience in their new fields, but Sanford believes they fit his mold of "servant leaders."

And the governor has several Cabinet members with extensive experience:

• Revenue director Burnie Maybank held the same job for Gov. David Beasley.

• Ernie Csiszar was insurance director under former Gov. Jim Hodges, a Democrat. Csiszar has kept his job with Sanford, a Republican.

• Kim Aydlette, Social Services director, headed the prosecution section of the S.C. attorney general's office, where she often dealt with cases of a similar milieu.

• Adrienne Youmans, director of Labor Licensing and Regulation, was previously a deputy director of the department.

• Bill Byars, head of Juvenile Justice, is a former Family Court judge and director of the Children's Law Office at USC.

Sanford's team gets high marks from Senate Minority Leader John Land, D-Clarendon.

"He's assembled a first-class Cabinet," Land said. "As did Jim Hodges, but I think he's made some real unique and appropriate choices."

Land particularly likes Faith, Ozmint and McClain.

Ozmint, Land said, "really brings a fresh approach out there. The learning curve with him doesn't even exist."

The Rev. Joe Darby also gives Sanford good marks, but not without hesitation.

Darby, preacher at Morris Brown AME Church in Charleston and vice president of the state NAACP, said Sanford's Cabinet shows racial diversity, but he worries it lacks philosophical diversity.

"He's got some African-American folk," Darby said, "but if you're really going to go into the African-American community, you have to accept the fact that there are some very capable people who are not in love with the Republican Party."