CHARLESTON — The governor has fired the chairman of state-owned utility Santee Cooper and a second board member has resigned, The (Charleston) Post and Courier reported in Sunday papers.

Both had clashed with Gov. Mark Sanford about changes at the utility.

Graham Edwards was ordered to leave the top post this week, less than two years after Republican Sanford appointed him as chairman. Edwards has worked at Santee Cooper for 23 years — seven of those as chief executive officer.

“The governor wants boards and commission that have institutional knowledge, but he also wants boards and commissions that are willing to think outside the lines and consider new ideas,” Sanford spokesman Will Folks said Saturday night.

Edwards could not be reached for comment.

Guerry Green has been tapped as acting chairman of the board, but Folks said the governor plans to appoint someone else to the position. The governor also appointed Carl Owens Falk, a retired businessman from Pawleys Island, to take Green’s position on the board.

The governor had asked the board to eliminate charitable donations to put more of the utility’s money back into state coffers. Edwards told Sanford that the contributions benefited the state and are an important economic development tool. Edwards twice voted against reducing the donations.

“I don’t think it boils down to any one issue or personality,” Folks said. “I think it boils down to a dynamic in the board that we didn’t feel was in the best interest of either the rate-payers of Santee Cooper or the taxpayers of South Carolina.”

Vernie Dove, an Horry County director, resigned his position on the Santee Cooper board Tuesday.

Dove, like Edwards, had refused to follow Sanford’s pressure for change. But he told the paper that “he had no ax to grind” with the governor. Dove had been on the board for six years and his term would expire in a few weeks.

“I felt by resigning now that would take a little pressure off (Sanford) and he could appoint someone by the January meeting,” Dove said.