COLUMBIA, S.C. - A week ago, Gov. Mark Sanford's plans to eliminate elections for most statewide offices largely failed in his hand-picked government restructuring committee.

Now those plans are going before a Senate panel where opposition is louder to Sanford's proposal to appoint all statewide officers except attorney general and have the governor and lieutenant governor run on the same ticket.

The plan raises concerns about too much power in the governor's offices and protests from those who want to preserve the status quo.

For instance, South Carolina is the only state in the nation with an elected adjutant general. Sanford's Commission on Management, Accountability and Performance recommended appointing that position, despite the vocal constituency it has in the Legislature.

"Hell will freeze over before we abolish the adjutant general's office," said Sen. John Hawkins, an Army National Guard captain and Spartanburg Republican. "The soldiers of this state want the adjutant general elected."

The tepid reception Sanford's commission had for eliminating elections for all but two statewide offices is likely to arm opponents as the restructuring movement works its way through the Legislature.

Wednesday, a Senate Judiciary subcommittee takes up 18 restructuring bills. Any agreements they reach could put government restructuring issues on the fast track when the Legislature reconvenes in January. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, said the first job will be to think about "how we redefine and restructure the roles of the Legislature" in a restructured government, perhaps making "the Legislature act like a board of directors is to a corporation."

Action eliminating elected offices must wait until after the Sanford commission's report is released at the end of this month, McConnell said.

If the bills Sanford supports were all adopted, the governor would name the adjutant general, agriculture commissioner, comptroller general, education superintendent, secretary of state and treasurer.

But that concerns some who like a more spread-out power base. A "governor will be captured by special interests and all these appointments will be dictated by major campaign donors," said John Crangle, state director of the Washington, D.C.-based political watchdog group Common Cause.

To support his point, Crangle pointed out that four of 10 Sanford appointees gave money to his campaign.

Sen. Scott Richardson, R-Hilton Head Island, has pushed proposals for years that would make some offices appointed instead of elected.

"It just makes sense," Richardson said. "Every governor runs on some education platform, yet you have no control over the Department of Education," he said. Education superintendents implement laws passed by the Legislature and policies the state Education Board sets.

Democratic Education Superintendent Inez Tenenbaum has said she supports the concept.

"There's always been a feeling that the secretary of state's job and the treasurer's jobs could be merged," Richardson said.

But lawmakers worry about losing that responsibility those elected officials feel toward voters. "I'd hate to see it tucked away in some other bureaucracy that's not accountable to the people," Hawkins said.

Support is growing for jointly electing the governor and lieutenant governor and making the lieutenant governor a full-time employee, Richardson said.

But last week, Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer told Sanford's Commission on Management, Accountability and Performance that plan would cost taxpayers more, since his job is now part-time. And, concentrating powers of so many state officers would mean "you've almost got a kingdom" in the governor's office, Bauer said.

That's less of a problem if there's a capable governor, Crangle said. But if you have an "incompetent governor ... it's just going to increase his ability to botch things up."

The key to any changes, Hawkins said, is to "show what the benefit to the taxpayer is in dollars and cents before we do anything."

Before any elections could be eliminated, the plan would have to be approved by two-thirds votes in the House and Senate then be approved by a majority of voters in the following election.