COLUMBIA, S.C. - A national group known for its no-new-tax pledge has launched a television ad targeting a key House Republican, drawing criticism from Democrats and GOP leaders.

The Americans for Tax Reform ad says that House Ways and Means Chairman Bobby Harrell is spending $5 million in taxpayer money on the Palmetto Bowl, a college football game supporters hope to land at The Citadel.

Grover Norquist, the group's president, said the ad is part of a larger national campaign targeting corporate welfare. It's an effort to "convince voters we can stop pork barrel spending," Norquist said. "We're not picking on this guy."

But legislators didn't see it that way, particularly with the Charleston legislator's penchant for tax and spending cuts.

"That this group would dare attack him for being fiscally irresponsible is staggering and tells me that that group no longer has any credibility with serious people," said Rep. John Graham Altman, R-Charleston. "They're going to pay for that."

State Republican Party Chairman Katon Dawson said the ads simply don't make sense. "It's a personal character assassination and it's unfair," Dawson said.

Even Democrats were surprised.

"That is an abomination," said Rep. Doug Jennings, D-Bennettsville.

"I find it hard to believe that this national group is doing this on its own," said Rep. Joel Lourie, D-Columbia.

The group's South Carolina affiliate didn't like the ad, either.

"I think ATR picks a strange battle to fight over the issue of this football game," Don Weaver, president of the South Carolina Association of Taxpayers, said. "I think they picked the wrong battle at the wrong time."

Weaver said Harrell is "a friend to the taxpayer."

Harrell called the ad "strange," and said it was inaccurate and oddly timed.

The state budget Harrell and others worked on preserves some local funding items, notably a plan to spend state $380,000 for up to 15 years to create the Palmetto Bowl in Charleston, as long as prospects are there for it to generate tax revenues of at least $2 million.

Norquist said legislators justify spending by saying that it will generate money in the future.

The ad comes out a day after "I fought for and we passed $52 million in tax relief in the budget that is absolutely guaranteed for the rest of our lifetimes unless somebody goes in and changes the law," Harrell said.

The Legislature has given final approval to a state budget that conforms state tax code to federal income tax laws with a nearly $40 million reduction in the marriage tax penalty and $13 million break on estate taxes.

"Something's just not right about this whole scenario," Harrell said.

Norquist said the ad had been in the works for some time and wasn't tied to budget work this week.

At least one legislator noted relationships between Gov. Mark Sanford and the political consultants who worked on the ad.

The tax group used Red Sea, which was one of Sanford's top political consultants, and Jamestown Associates, to place the ads. Red Sea was one of the companies that Sanford used in his 2002 gubernatorial bid and continues to work with the governor.

"I think there are other agendas at work here," House Minority Leader James Smith, D-Columbia, said. "I think Mr. Norquist and his group are more interested in trying to help out Sanford than they are in battling corporate welfare.

"I feel like this is probably a shot across Bobby's bow as somebody that's rumored to maybe consider a primary challenge" against Sanford, Smith said.

"If that's true, it's a cheap shot," said Harrell, who said he has no plans to run against Sanford in 2006.

Sanford's spokesman Will Folks would not comment on the ads. "We can't comment on something we haven't seen," Folks said.

But he said the governor hasn't spoken to the group or its founder since last year when it targeted his efforts to raise the cigarette tax in exchange for lowering the income tax.

Norquist also said there was no discussion with Sanford or his campaign about the ads.

But at least one political consultant said the governor's office should get involved.

"I would hope they would at least call and express their indignation that they'd run an ad like this," said Warren Tompkins, a former top aide to Gov. Carroll Campbell.