An earlier post here noted that South Carolina State Senate Ethics Committee Chairman Wes Hayes sent a letter to his chamber colleagues admonishing them to stop breaking campaign laws.  Senator Hayes apparently knows that such behavior is taking place and, rather than charging anyone with actions that “most likely violate South Carolina Ethics, Government Accountability, and Campaign Reform Act,“ he just tells them to “cease.”

You know, kinda like the State Ethics Commission did for Governor Mark Sanford.

So who might Senator Hayes and the Ethics Committee have in mind?

Well, State Senators Kent Williams and Darrell Jackson each paid $648 from their campaign-designated monies to buy USC football tickets.

Their colleague, Senator Yancey McGill must be the designated driver because he paid $500 to “SC ETV” on George Rogers Blvd. - next to Williams-Bryce Stadium – for “parking.”

Senator Williams also paid the USC ticket office $36 for “University” on the 5th of March – the same day the Carolina men’s basketball team hosted Tennessee in an ESPN broadcast game.

Then there is the $190 in campaign funds to the Darlington Raceway two days before this year’s Southern 500.  The description of that particular expense is listed as “unknown.”

Some are gonna call this petty number-picking, but keep in mind that these curious expenditures could very well be just as “criminal” as those for which Mark Sanford is having to answer. As noted in the Wall Street Journal:

The South Carolina State Ethics Commission’s 1,300 page report on Sanford lays out a number of potential unethical acts, such as using campaign funds for personal expenses.

The number and value of these incidents is immaterial to the letter of the law.

NEXT: $15 for air travel?