ANYONE WHO doubted there was a new sheriff in town should have been disabused of that notion last week when Gov. Mark Sanford handed down his first budget vetoes.

With a few easily overlooked strokes of the pen, Mr. Sanford put legislators on notice: Business as usual is no longer sacred. It's not even safe.

As bold as his moves to preserve trust funds and quash "wish list" spending were, those weren't what made the vetoes revolutionary. That came when the governor dug deep into the bowels of the budget and pulled out eight "temporary provisos" and a handful of minor spending items for elimination.

There's nothing new about a governor vetoing spending items or provisos, which tell agencies how to operate for the year the budget remains in effect. What's new is excising anything other than new programs or newly added provisos -- in other words, interfering with the way business has always been done. And Mr. Sanford did precisely that, in order to spell out some of his values about government and budgeting, by removing items that have:

- Allowed the State Museum to provide free office space to its foundation. Mr. Sanford noted that this provision, added in 2000, was "inconsistent with the manner with which other foundations are expected to reimburse the state for the use of facilities."

- Allowed the State Museum to collect the state admissions tax, like all other amusements, but to keep the money for itself -- in other words, to charge a higher admission price but claim part of it was a "tax" beyond its control. Again, he cited inconsistency.

- Protected from any budget cuts the per diem payments to members of the Agriculture Commission. Mr. Sanford said the per diem rate "should be subject to the same prioritization process as other expenditures when an agency is forced to reduce its budget."

- Prohibited the Highway Patrol from charging to provide traffic control at football games, festivals and other "special events." Eliminating this proviso, which has been buried in the budget since 1993, does not require the Patrol to start charging for this service, although it should once it has a chance to establish procedures.

- Essentially required state agencies to fill out the tons of what has often become meaningless paperwork in order to comply with the Baldrige management doctrine. Mr. Sanford noted that, like previous management crazes to sweep the private and public sectors, this one tends to "cultivate reliance upon a 'one-size-fits-all' management approach irrespective of the size or function of the agency." He would prefer that managers spend their time and money developing "the conceptual understanding to run dynamic organizations and serve the public effectively."

- Exempted the money the State Museum and the Budget and Control Board pay the state for "rent" from calculations of any across-the-board cuts. These exemptions, the governor said, are "inconsistent with the manner with which across-the-board cuts are administered within other agencies."

- Required that the main entrance to the State House garage "shall be accessible from any direction except for the 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm time period during which time traffic is routed in one direction out of the facility" and that the exits on Assembly Street "shall be open for traffic from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm." Mr. Sanford said this provision "unduly micromanages an administrative function" and "affords no flexibility to deviate from specific hours of operation for the statehouse parking garage for special events, holidays, weekends or disasters."

- Given $119,000 in special funding to motorcycle safety programs the Legislature required tech schools to run. Mr. Sanford said that program should be funded through tuition or general funding "as would be the case with other technical college programs."

- Provided $60,000 to run Leadership South Carolina, which he said "should be funded exclusively by the participants and/or their organizations."

One of the worst things policymakers in our state do, year in and year out, is to assume that everything government does is essential and that everything is being done in the best way possible. Oh, lawmakers talk a good game about shaking up the bureaucracy, trimming the fat; but even the starve-government Republicans have done precious little to challenge this assumption since they came to power.

Until now. Partially because he's an outsider with no investment in the way things have always been done, partially because he is more willing than the typical politician to make waves, Mark Sanford is working to overturn that idea. He has taken it on in fits and starts throughout the year, vetoing a handful of status-quo bills as they landed on his desk.

But to actually delve into established practice and start undoing those parts of it that don't make good sense is something we haven't seen from a governor. And something we could stand to see a lot more of.