Mitchell to use campaign money to pay ethics fines

State Rep. Harold Mitchell reached an agreement with the House Ethics Committee Tuesday to use the nearly $7,400 he must reimburse his campaign to help pay another $16,000 in fines for ethics violations.

Lawmakers can use campaign money to pay ethics penalties and legal fees tied to their elected office.

Last May, the Ethics Committee ordered Mitchell to pay $23,387 in fines and campaign reimbursements for improperly handling his campaign accounts and spending donations for non-campaign-related expenses.

The Spartanburg Democrat has paid $4,600 to cover his fines, said his attorney, Doug Smith.

The lawmaker will spend the next three months paying back $7,387 to his campaign account for non-campaign-related expenditures, Smith said. Mitchell used his campaign account to pay for dry cleaning, repaying a personal loan, oil changes, lodging for a family displaced by Hurricane Katrina and a cell-phone bill, the Ethics Committee found.

Mitchell expects to finish paying his fines by the fall. The fines came from failing to maintain proper records, transferring $12,015 to a nonprofit development corporation that Mitchell runs and 18 violations of using contribution for non-campaign-related expenses.

The Ethics Committee investigated complaints against Mitchell that were sent to it by the state attorney general's office after Mitchell pleaded guilty to filing his taxes late. Mitchell has struggled financially since reaching an agreement with the Department of Revenue, Smith said.

“He's in recovery mode,” Smith said. Mitchell declined comment.

House Ethics Committee chairman Kenny Bingham, R-Lexington, said last year that Mitchell's cooperation during the investigation was taken into account in assessing the penalties. He called Mitchell's violations “a case of sloppy bookkeeping.”

Mitchell ran unopposed last year to win a sixth two-year term in the S.C. House.

Mitchell was chairman of Legislative Black Caucus when he was cited for ethics violations last year. He was the first of two Black Caucus leaders to receive ethics sanctions in the past year.

The current caucus chairman — Rep. Carl Anderson, D-Georgetown — was penalized $6,735 by the Senate Ethics Committee last month for falsifying campaign reports, failing to report revenues and expenditures, and accepting anonymous donations.

The sanctions against Anderson stem from a special election last year for the Senate seat once held by Yancey McGill, a Williamsburg Democrat who was elevated to lieutenant governor. State Rep. Ronnie Saab, D-Williamsburg, won the election.

The Senate Ethics Committee found no criminal intent by Anderson, a Georgetown Democrat, nor any inappropriate use of campaign expenditures.

This story was originally published May 5, 2015 at 12:10 PM with the headline "Mitchell to use campaign money to pay ethics fines."