Watchdog group Common Cause is calling for changes to South Carolina's campaign finance laws after agriculture commissioner Charles Sharpe's indictment on bribery charges last week. Sharpe is accused of taking more than $20,000 from a cockfighting ring in exchange for his help in protecting the group from police.

Sharpe maintains his innocence and says the money he took from the South Carolina Gamefowl Management Association was a campaign contribution. There's a problem with that claim, though, according to U.S. Attorney Strom Thurmond, Jr.

"$15,000 was not reported on his campaign disclosure forms that he had to file as a candidate for commissioner of agriculture," Thurmond said when he announced Sharpe's indictment.

John Crangle, director of Common Cause in South Carolina, says, "We need to ban campaign contributions by corporations' political action committees. They've been banned at the federal level since 1906, the corporate contributions have. And big corporations give campaign money, basically, to buy access and influence."

He has asked the state attorney general to investigate Sharpe to see if state campaign laws were violated. He also wants the attorney general to look into whether any other state lawmakers are involved, since Sharpe's alleged involvement began when he was a member of the House.

Katon Dawson, chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party, says banning corporate contributions is a bad idea.

"I think it'd be a shame to limit small businesses or small corporations from being able to contribute to political candidates," Dawson says. "It's become so expensive to get your message out, to get your information out. And I think a lot of employees in businesses would be hurt if that happened here in South Carolina."

Gov. Mark Sanford also accepted a $2,500 contribution from the SC Gamefowl Management Association. That's led the Democratic Party to criticize him and demand that he give the money back.

His campaign finance director, Ashleigh Streeter, says, "The governor's campaign has received several thousand individual contributions since he first ran for governor - all of them legal and all of them reported. As far as the governor knew, this was a group supporting one of his favorite sports - duck hunting. This contribution was made the day before the election and the governor didn't even know it had been made until after the election."

State lawmakers passed a stricter campaign finance law this year, which includes more disclosure of campaign contributions.