After Standard & Poor’s recently pulled South Carolina’s AAA credit rating, many elected officials rushed to declare that they themselves weren’t to blame. Instead, they blamed our economy — and the governor’s economic development program. That’s unfair and misleading.

Credit rating agencies analyze numerous factors. Moody’s Investor Services issued an extremely helpful 24-page report last year explaining the rating methodology. Elected officials should read this report before pointing fingers.

The report explains that Moody’s sometimes will offset weaknesses seen in some areas with strengths in others. For example, rating agencies have always considered South Carolina’s economy to be relatively weak. But they’ve also credited us for having strengths that compensate for our economy, arising from conservative financial management.

Accordingly, rating agencies historically have cited our constitution’s limits on state debt and our requirement to maintain “rainy-day” reserves. They’ve cited the constitution’s balanced-budget requirement and its requirement for mid-year budget cuts, when necessary, to avoid overspending.

They’ve also historically cited our practice of controlling spending when times are good, so we’ll have a cushion, because things happen.

During 2001-2002, the U.S. economy took a hit. Among other factors, the 9/11 terrorist attacks, skyrocketing oil prices and the escalating loss of U.S. jobs to cheaper overseas labor pushed the economy into recession.

South Carolina’s economy followed. State revenue collections declined — yet state spending continued at a careless pace. In the 2002 election year, it seems that elected officials brushed aside careful financial management to avoid having to make unpopular spending cuts.

Ignoring common sense, these officials plunged the state into debt. They also depleted the state’s “rainy day” funds. Moreover, they grabbed hundreds of millions of special-purpose “trust” funds and spent them on general operations. Worse, they engaged in at least $155 million of unconstitutional deficit spending before a new governor was elected and terminated the practice.

Two years ago, the rating agencies expressed serious concerns. After I took office in 2003, they informed me that they expected any AAA state like ours to get its house back in order.

Especially troubling to the agencies was our inability to balance recurring spending with recurring revenues. You see, even after elected officials had consumed all of our revenues and our “net worth,” they continued to spend the state into a major deficit.

I informed legislative leaders of the rating agencies’ serious concerns. They insisted that they eventually would deal with them, but later.

The rating agencies cautioned that they hold AAA states like ours to higher standards of financial management. They emphasized that they expect effective action, rather than pledges of future action.

As I repeated those warnings to the state’s top financial officials, the one person willing to act promptly and decisively was the governor. Others were willing to act, but less promptly and less decisively. On the other hand, Gov. Mark Sanford clearly understood the serious perils of waiting.

Yet even the governor couldn’t do what the Legislature wouldn’t permit him to do. Lawmakers wouldn’t heed his urgent calls to promptly repay trust funds, restore “rainy day” emergency funds, reduce runaway spending and debt and improve budgeting. Instead, they underscored that they, rather than the governor, were in charge.

That attitude makes it disappointing, and even disgusting, to hear the same officials now declare that the governor could have avoided this downgrade by creating more jobs with more economic development during the short time he’s been in office. That’s a dodge.

Let’s be honest about this: It’ll be tough to regain our AAA. It might not be possible.

The one other time we lost our AAA rating was in 1993. State officials then blamed Hurricane Hugo, which had hit South Carolina four years earlier.

I became state treasurer a year after that downgrade and organized a first-of-its-kind credit rating summit of political and community leaders. Everyone worked cooperatively on a recovery plan. Everyone was polite and professional. There was no backbiting, no political arrogance.

Significantly, a senior S&P official attending our summit said he’d never restored a AAA rating to a state once downgraded. Still, we executed our plan — and in 1996, South Carolina became the first state to recover a AAA rating. We won because everyone cooperated. And that’s our best hope now.

Rating agencies don’t downgrade states just because of hurricanes, recessions or other stressful events. Instead, they downgrade states that fail to appropriately respond to stressful events.

It’s time that everyone put aside personal political ambitions and other unhealthy motives. Everyone must act like statesmen and display more humility, goodwill and thoughtfulness as we work again toward a solution.

Too much is at stake to squander this rare opportunity. And the rating agencies are watching to see how we respond.

Mr. Eckstrom became comptroller general in 2003. He was state treasurer from 1995 to 1999.