CHARLESTON - The Charleston County Republican Party's executive committee took the unusual step Monday night of censuring U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham for stepping across the GOP party line.

County chairwoman Lin Bennett said the unanimous voice vote of 50 of 104 executive members "is an effort to get his attention. They (party leaders) are just fed up, and they want him to know they're fed up."

The resolution mentions Graham's cooperation with U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., on a bipartisan energy bill and his support for the $700 billion Troubled Assett Relief Program.

Graham's spokesman Kevin Bishop said Graham has a lifetime conservative voting record of 90 percent.

"Working to solve problems and being conservative are not mutually exclusive. You can do both and that's what people in South Carolina elected him to do," he said.