A panel of senators said Tuesday that acting Santee Cooper Chairman G. Dial DuBose is not qualified to serve on the utility's board because he allegedly violated open-meeting laws and bowed to political pressure during his two-year tenure.

The 4-1 vote of no confidence was released in concert with a 37-page report in which the Senate subcommittee detailed what it called a pattern of reckless, bullying behavior that threatened the fiscal health of Santee Cooper and undermined the company's executive staff. The report caps a 10-week Senate review of Santee Cooper board actions spurred by a series of articles in The Post and Courier.

DuBose, a developer from Easley, was one of several board members who came under fire in the inquiry.

The report released Tuesday also called for the removal or resignation of Director Richard Coen, a developer from Mount Pleasant. DuBose, unlike Coen, has reached the end of his term and is being reappointed by Gov. Mark Sanford.

DuBose said the finding was a fabrication designed to maintain the status quo at the utility.

"I'm the good guy: I've been looking out for the ratepayer and the taxpayer," he said Tuesday. "After 22 hours of deliberations, they needed a body and I was the only one they could get their hands on."

DuBose and a number of other directors were accused of having secret meetings and micromanaging the utility's employees by meddling in the day-to-day operations of the company.

The Senate report also said DuBose bowed to political ideology in casting a controversial vote to end the utility's charitable contributions.

DuBose has served on a number of boards and was a councilman in Pickens County, a role that he gave up when tapped by Sanford for the Santee Cooper board in May 2003. DuBose said he knows well the duties of a board member and public figure and does not regret any of his actions regarding Santee Cooper.

"It's unbelievable," DuBose said. "The committee's charge was to discover whether or not I was qualified, not whether they agreed with me. I believe they decided they didn't agree with me; therefore, I was not qualified."

The Senate subcommittee also said DuBose should have been more critical of controversial actions taken by his fellow directors.

"It concerns the subcommittee that inappropriate actions by board members, actions that an ordinarily prudent person would not exercise, are summarily dismissed by Mr. DuBose," the report said.

During his testimony in May, DuBose called the Senate investigation unfair.

"Those issues, in the light you exposed them, are serious," he told the subcommittee. "The light which I was exposing to it, it was conversations taking place and issues being batted about, some not intended for public consumption."

Sanford spokesman Will Folks said he strongly doubted that Sanford would remove Coen or DuBose from the board.

"The governor takes action on reports if they have merit, and this report is singularly without merit," Folks said Tuesday, although he acknowledged that he had not seen the report.

Sanford also said around midday Tuesday that he had not seen the report. But he expressed support for his embattled board picks, as he has throughout the Senate investigation. In recent weeks, Sanford referred to the hearings as a witch hunt.

DuBose said he is confident that Sanford still supports his Santee Cooper tenure and nomination, but he said he has mixed emotions about staying in his director's seat in light of the Senate opinion released Tuesday.

Jack Bass, a College of Charleston political science professor, said the unfolding Santee Cooper controversy could have major implications in the gubernatorial election next year. He said he believes Sanford will continue to handle the subject carefully, although Bass doesn't think allegations of mismanagement at Santee Cooper have become a "burning issue" with voters.

"My hunch is that Governor Sanford will portray this controversy as himself standing up for the voters of the state," Bass said. "How the voters respond to that is the great unknown question. ... It certainly has a number of people upset."

Santee Cooper provides power to about 40 percent of the state, some 760,000 homes, businesses and factories. The state-owned utility is based in Moncks Corner.