Gov. Mark Sanford has nominated Charleston businessman Oscar L. Thompson III to chair the board of Santee Cooper, the state-owned utility.

Sanford said Tuesday that Thompson’s business leadership experience and political acceptability to Senate President Pro Tempore Glenn McConnell were reasons for the nomination.

Thompson is with the O.L. Thompson Construction Co. His nomination replaces that of Guerry Green, who has been interim chairman since December.

Sanford withdrew Green’s nomination after a lawmaker threatened to “nuke” it, according to Sanford spokesman Will Folks.

The development is the latest in weeks of controversy surrounding the utility, which serves about 40 percent of state residents directly or through electric cooperatives. Lawmakers have accused Sanford and some Santee Cooper directors of advancing a secret plan to privatize the utility, which critics contend could result in higher electric rates for consumers.

Green and other board members appointed by Sanford also have been accused by senators of violating open-meetings law and other improprieties.

The back-and-forth continued Tuesday between legislators and the governor’s office.

McConnell, R-Charleston, defended his colleagues from the governor’s charge of bias in their examination of potential wrongdoing at Santee Cooper.

Sanford said Monday that Sen. William Mescher, R-Berkeley, is biased because he is a retired chief executive of Santee Cooper. The governor said Sen. Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg, also is biased because is a lawyer who has represented the utility.

The senators, both critics of Santee Cooper board members, responded Tuesday that their former ties to the utility have been a matter of public record and will not affect their judgment as they serve on a Senate Judiciary subcommittee looking at the utility.

Mescher said his retirement package from Santee Cooper and related benefits were negotiated years ago and cannot change.

Hutto said most of the legal work his firm did for Santee Cooper was performed by a partner, and said he does not anticipate future business from the utility.

McConnell decided not to remove the lawmakers from the subcommittee.

“Nothing has been concealed,” he said.

Later in the day, Sanford responded to Mescher’s criticism of first lady Jenny Sanford for her involvement in Santee Cooper affairs.

Among other things, she helped the governor’s office choose an investment bank to perform a study of Santee Cooper’s potential sale value, a study the utility’s board agreed to pay up to $150,000 for without public discussion.

The governor said Mescher’s comments come from a “chauvinistic attitude” bordering on limiting the first lady to serving “tea and cookies in the mansion.”

Mescher responded that his criticism is not related to the first lady’s gender, but to the fact that “she is not an employee of the state and was not elected” to represent South Carolina residents.

Sanford also said he has not considered removing board members for alleged wrongdoing, including potential violations of open-meetings law. Sanford said he might give Santee Cooper directors a half-day of training on meetings law to prevent violations.

With Green out as chairman, lawmakers indicated Santee Cooper’s first vice chairman, G. Dial DuBose, might lead the board until Thompson is confirmed.

DuBose, who attended pre-confirmation hearings Tuesday for a second term, said he expected such leadership to be a brief situation. “I’m just trying to keep the train on the tracks until the next engineer shows up,” he said.

Reach McWilliams at (803) 771-8308 or jmcwilliams@thestate.com.