COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - A taxpayer group and others are questioning the cost and way of paying for preservation of the Confederate submarine Hunley.

The cost associated with bringing the sub up from the Atlantic Ocean floor and preserving it are well beyond initial estimates of $10 million and could reach 10 times that including the cost of a proposed museum, according to an analysis by The (Columbia) State newspaper.

The newspaper also says Senate President pro tem Glenn McConnell has used his power and influence to keep much of the cost out of the public eye. Even other members of the Hunley Commission that McConnell chairs didn't fully know all the costs.

McConnell, R-Charleston, would not comment to the newspaper for its article and did not return a phone message left by The Associated Press on Sunday.

The paper analyzed different spending on Hunley-related items and reported that $17 million has actually been spent in the past eight years on raising, excavating, preserving and promoting the Hunley.

Almost $10 million of that money came from federal and state government support and another $2 million is from in-kind state government services.

Among those services was $128,000 South Carolina Education Television tried to charge the quasi-governmental foundation, Friends of the Hunley, for film work. The foundation was established by McConnell and, as chairman of the Hunley Commission, he appoints all the members of the Friends of the Hunley board with approval of the rest of the commission.

McConnell wrote to S.C. ETV president Moss Bresnahan in October 2001 asking "why I was not informed of this request of the Friends of the Hunley to pay for documenting the project."

Bresnahan wrote back the following January that the foundation had a contract and had promised to pay.

In another letter three months later, McConnell recommended Bresnahan cancel the contract.

"Once that step is taken I think that we can discuss the costs that were incurred by ETV and attempt through the (state) budgetary process to make ETV whole," McConnell wrote.

ETV canceled the invoices.

Bresnahan told The State that McConnell convinced him not to charge the foundation because the filming educated the public about a worthwhile topic.

Bresnahan said the agency has since performed some film services free for other agencies.

Most of the remaining $5 million spent on the Hunley to date has come from private donations, tours of the conservation center and the sale of Hunley merchandise.

There is some disagreement over the significance of the sub, which sank three times, killing more than 20 men. But the 40-foot, hand-cranked sub sank did make history when it rammed a spar with a black powder charge into the Union blockade ship Housatonic on Feb. 17, 1864.

The sub sank shortly thereafter off the coast of Sullivans Island, where it was discovered in 1995 and raised in 2000.

Soon after the sub's discovery, McConnell's assistant, John Hazzard V, wrote the State Budget and Control Board, asking it to set up a Hunley account to be used by the foundation and the commission for private donations.

"The fund should be also designated so that the monies received by private donation can be disbursed without legislation," Hazzard wrote.

State Auditor Tom Wagner Jr. said the Hunley's accounts has never been independently audited by the state, but transactions from the foundation's accounts would be sampled like other state accounts during annual larger audits.

"It's going to be the luck of the draw each year as to whether the auditor actually looks at Hunley accounts," Wagner said.

The auditor said the setup allowing McConnell to approve expenditures for the Hunley's restoration is unusual. The newspaper reported that records show more than $8 million has been sent through state accounts to the foundation.

"It's obviously outside the framework the state has provided for disbursement of public funds," said Richard Eckstrom, the state's comptroller general. Eckstrom, also a Republican, said he was disappointed to learn the Hunley project is being financed through accounts that allow a senator to authorize spending. "It's very unfortunate to have these side arrangements," he said.

Because of the nature of the way money is spent on Hunley projects, including funding coming from state colleges and other agencies, there is no easy way to determine how much the state has spent.

"It makes it impossible to find out facts to make good decisions," said attorney Jim Carpenter, who is representing a government watchdog who is suing the Friends of the Hunley, which claimed an exemption to the state's Freedom of Information Act. "You cannot have a meaningful debate on a project's cost."

Last year, the Hunley Commission announced a plan to have Clemson University take over the preservation lab with 90 full-time workers and a $5 million payroll.

"It's a stealth strategy," said John Crangle, head of the citizens watchdog group Common Cause. "The whole scheme involves rivers of underground money flowing to the Hunley from many sources, and the obvious intent is to not let people know."

Even high-ranking lawmakers and elected officials don't know how much the state has spent on the Hunley.

"I don't have a clue," Gov. Mark Sanford said last week.

Sanford had attempted to cut into some of that spending in his 2005 executive budget. The governor cut almost $200,000 earmarked for security for the sub. Among other things, that money pays for an armed guard for the Hunley lab, which is open to visitors on weekends. The lab also is monitored 24 hours a day via closed-circuit television.

At the time, the governor suggested using local law enforcement or a private security company. But McConnell defended the expenditures, saying the items being protected were priceless and belong to the state.

Sanford told The State the uncoordinated spending on the Hunley is an example of state government dysfunction. "The left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing," he said.

Three lawmakers who are members of the Hunley Commission told the newspaper they didn't know how much the Hunley was costing.

"The Hunley would still be sitting off Charleston, under eight feet of sand, if it hadn't been for Sen. McConnell's leadership," said state Sen. John Courson, R-Columbia and member of the Hunley Commission. "I've often said that Sen. McConnell is in love with an inanimate object - the Confederate sub, the H.L. Hunley."

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Information from: The State, http://www.thestate.com/