With the beginning of the new S.C. fiscal year last week, one of the General Assembly's most egregious exercises in cynicism comes to fruition, with an able assist from Gov. Mark Sanford. On July 1, the state's Department of Health and Human Services relinquished control of its Senior Services Bureau to Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer.

No longer will the Meals on Wheels and other popular federal- and state-supported programs for the state's most avid voters be the responsibility of a relatively impartial bureaucracy. Instead, Bauer will stamp senior services with his own imprimatur - with the help of the bureau's 21 employees, who now work for him.

Possibly, Bauer, whose administrative abilities are untested, will prove capable of running the program competently. But can the openly ambitious 30-something politician resist using the program to build support for even higher office among S.C. residents 65 and older?

Will he be able to resist, for instance, turning the bureau's many communications with that population into campaign literature - in the same manner that some members of Congress use "official" postage-free mailings to ensure constituents recognize their names? The temptation Bauer feels to build his name awareness among seniors in this fashion will be powerful.

Had there been concrete evidence Health and Human Services was handling the bureau's programs poorly, that transfer of administrative responsibility might be justified. But then Bauer himself engendered the legislative motivation for politicizing the bureau. Chafing that his current office requires him only to preside over the S.C. Senate and stand in as chief executive when the governor is unable to attend to his responsibilities, Bauer decided to become a seniors advocate.

In and of itself, that isn't a bad thing. An S.C. lieutenant governor can advocate for any cause he wishes. But legislators went way beyond the bounds of reason in gratifying those wishes with a a big chunk of federal money and nearly two dozen staffers.

It's especially disappointing that Sanford, who expressed reservations about the bill after The Sun News editorialized about it this spring, signed off on this exercise in cynicism. Easier to give Bauer the political prestige and higher profile he craved, apparently, than to stand up for good government capably administered.