COLUMBIA - In a show of unity absent for months, South Carolina's top financial leaders will meet today with the three credit rating agencies that decide how risky it is to lend the state money.

Standard and Poor's already has lowered the state's AAA rating, the highest given, by a notch as Gov. Mark Sanford and other members of the state Budget and Control Board argued about what ailed the state's economy.

The two other major credit rating firms, Moody's and Fitch, have told Wall Street and lenders they're watching closely, but haven't lowered their top-tier ratings for the state's debt.

Today's meeting in Columbia will include Sanford, state Treasurer Grady Patterson, Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan Cooper -- four of the five members of the state Budget and Control Board. The board handles most of the state's day-to-day financial affairs.

Since the beginning of the year, Sanford and Eckstrom have sparred with other board members and the legislature about exactly what prompted the Wall Street jitters.

In July, Standard and Poor's Ratings Services said the problem was slow economic and job growth as it lowered the state's credit rating from AAA to AA-plus.

The past discord raises stakes for today's meeting.

It is "important that we provide a united front and that we're speaking with one voice," said House Speaker Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston.

Sanford plans to talk to the credit rating agencies about his upcoming executive budget. And "the governor is going to make the case that South Carolina's economy is strengthening," Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer said.

A story published in Time magazine Monday depicted Sanford as one of the three worst governors in the U.S., citing the state's lowered credit rating.

The story, by reporter Tim Padgett, also said Sanford's "conspicuous frugality" has sparked a "growing chorus of critics, including leaders of his own GOP" who fear his thrift has hurt South Carolina.

The story also mentions the state's high unemployment rate and its low per-capita income.

In an interview with The State newspaper of Columbia, Sanford said he was not concerned about Time's characterization.

"I have read The New York Times; I will still read The New York Times," Sanford said. "I have read Time; I will still read Time. They may be left-leaning, but it's good to check in with what the left is thinking."