COLUMBIA - Those who had known Charles Sharpe as an S.C. lawmaker described the indicted state agriculture commissioner as basically a quiet country gentleman.

"I consider him a fine person," said state Rep. Eldridge Emory, D-Lancaster, who was a member of the House Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs Committee the last two years Sharpe served as chairman, 2001-02.

Environmentalists who found Sharpe much friendlier to agribusiness interests than to their concerns said he nonetheless treated them with courtesy.

"I feel sorry for him," Nancy Vinson, a lobbyist for the S.C. Coastal Conservation League, said Friday, referring to Sharpe's indictment last week on federal charges of taking bribes to protect an illegal cockfighting ring.

Sharpe's lawyer said he is innocent. He "tried to help some constituents who were also campaign donors, and these constituents have gotten in some kind of legal trouble and are trying to implicate or harm Mr. Sharpe," attorney and former S.C. House member John Felder said last week.

One of the potential witnesses against Sharpe who was named in court last week, Jimmy Collins of Duncan, was among 120 people arrested last November in a law enforcement raid on a cockfighting tournament.

Gov. Mark Sanford suspended Sharpe from his $92,000-a-year job without pay pending trial. The governor said he took the action "given the tremendously grave nature of these charges and the serious abuses of public trust alleged in this indictment."

If Sharpe is convicted, the state constitution requires that he give up the commissioner's post permanently.

Although the state commissioner of agriculture is one of the more obscure statewide elected jobs in S.C. government, it oversees a department with 177 employees and a $10 million annual budget. The agency oversees the promotion of farm produce and the protection of consumers from bad food and unfair marketing practices. It also operates three State Farmers Markets in Columbia, Florence and Greenville.

Sharpe, a 65-year-old farmer and weekly newspaper publisher from the rural community of Wagener in Aiken County, won the commissioner's job with a narrow 50.5 percent of the vote in 2002. Prior to that, he had served in the S.C. House for 17 years.

An Aiken County native, he attended Georgia Tech, did military service in the Air National Guard and is a deacon and Sunday school teacher at a Baptist church. He and his wife, Linda, have been married for 39 years and have three children.

Emory said that as a committee chairman, Sharpe kept firm control through a group of loyal subcommittee chairs, but was no tyrant. "He was very friendly, very open," Emory said. "I never heard him have a cross word with anyone."

All environmental legislation in the House must go through the agriculture committee. "He was often not on our side," said the Coastal Conservation League's Vinson.

The biggest environmental battle in which Sharpe was involved was his support of an attempt in 1996 by major pork producers to establish several large factory farms in eastern South Carolina. They were thwarted by environmental groups who managed to push through tough new regulations that have kept large hog farming operations out of the state.

"He was our main problem on the hog bill," said Vinson.

In that fight, Sharpe worked closely with the S.C. Farm Bureau Federation. Friday, federation president David Winkles issued a statement in which he said he was "stunned" to hear of Sharpe's indictment.

"The best scenario would be that the charges are unfounded," Winkles said. "Regardless, it is very important that this not cause a black eye for South Carolina agriculture or for our state's farmers."

Winkles applauded Sanford's decision to suspend Sharpe. He said, "Farmers cannot afford to stand on the sidelines while Mr. Sharpe focuses his attention to defend the charges against him."