Kahn on Monday charged that every time McConnell requests taxpayer money to pay the sub's bills, he violates state ethics laws. Both McConnell and the state Ethics Commission say the allegation has no merit.

The Hunley has become the main, if not the only, issue in the Senate District 41 race in West Ashley. The confusing path South Carolina took in preparing for the sub's recovery and conservation is at the heart of the dispute.

Kahn contends that McConnell violates state law every time he requests taxpayer money for the Friends of the Hunley, its nonprofit, fund-raising charity.

As Kahn interprets state law, McConnell, as a public figure, can't use his office to influence any governmental decision in which he or an associate has an economic interest. As president pro tem of the Senate, McConnell arguably has influence over any decision state government makes.

At least two members of McConnell's inner circle have had jobs with the project. Statehouse lawyer John Hazzard works as staff attorney for the Hunley Commission, the state's caretaker of the sub, and has worked for Friends of the Hunley. Columbia consultant Richard Quinn's company is doing marketing work for the sub, and Quinn is a political consultant for McConnell.

"(McConnell) has directed millions of taxpayer dollars to the company he started which is staffed with or employs people with whom he associates," Kahn said. The Hunley project has received more than $9 million in state and federal dollars.

McConnell called Kahn's interpretation "ludicrous." As chairman of the Hunley Commission, McConnell reviews the sub's bills as they come in from the nonprofit and then sends them to the state Budget and Control Board with a request for payment.

There is nothing illegal or sinister in the arrangement, he said.

The state Ethics Commission said there appears to be nothing illegal about it.

"I certainly think it's cozy but I don't see an outright violation," commission lawyer Cathy Hazelwood said Monday.

Hazelwood said Kahn appears to be relying on an incomplete reading of state law to make his point. Neither Hazzard nor Quinn qualify as a "person with whom he (McConnell) is associated" under the state's definition, she said.

"Associated," she said, refers to a more direct link of blood, marriage or someone with a mutual interest in the same business. Nothing in the act prohibits Quinn from doing consulting work on a project of mutual interest, she said.

"You can't stretch the ethics act out that far to say that he (Quinn) can't do anything else," Hazelwood said.

Hazzard's dual role as the one-time Friends of the Hunley lawyer was legal, she said, as long as he did his work for the nonprofit while he is off duty from his state government jobs.

This is at least the second time Hazzard's job status has been screened. The issue arose in 2001 when McConnell asked for an ethics commission ruling, which said it was OK for Hazzard to work for both bodies.

McConnell said Kahn is "trying to stretch the law like a rubber band."

"It borders on character assassination," he said of the charges. Kahn is making "a desperate political effort to hide who he is, a medical malpractice lawyer running in a conservative Republican district," he said.

"He's trolling around looking for something that he thinks is wrong," McConnell said.

Kahn said state law prohibits McConnell "in any way" of using his position to provide a financial benefit to an entity with which he associates.

"It appears he has failed to comply with this law," Kahn said.

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