A Republican lawmaker and a government watchdog group have paired up to curtail what they say is a “shakedown” of campaign cash by top S.C. lawmakers.

Rep. Dan Tripp, R-Greenville, and the S.C. chapter of Common Cause have teamed up on a bill, which Tripp introduced last week. It would ban so-called “leadership PACs” from giving to campaigns and prohibit independent expenditures, such as campaign mailings.

The bill was sent to the House Judiciary Committee. A hearing has not been scheduled.

“The leadership PACs clearly violate the spirit of the Ethics Act that was passed after Operation Lost Trust,” Tripp said, referring to the early 1990s FBI sting that netted lawmakers and lobbyists in a vote-buying scheme.

Several influential House Republicans have leadership political action committees, or PACs, including Speaker Bobby Harrell, Ways and Means Committee chairman Dan Cooper and Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee chairman Harry Cato.

S.C. Common Cause executive director John Crangle and Tripp say the committees are legal, due to a loophole in the state Ethics Act. However, they are a problem, both men say, because it allows the PAC founder to solicit contributions to his own regular campaign and hit up the same sources for contributions to his political committee.

“Does Bobby Harrell want to use Tom DeLay as a role model, or does he want to be a real leader?” Crangle said.

Harrell, who has more than $262,000 in his Palmetto Leadership Council PAC account, said his organization is dedicated to improving the state’s business climate.

It “is an effort to get business folks more involved in the process,” Harrell said.

The council has meetings and receptions during which lawmakers and other state leaders hear from speakers. For example, Harrell said, the council has featured Bill Harris, the man credited with turning Ireland into an international leader in biotech research.

Harrell’s PAC spends its money helping pro-business candidates, he said.

“We created this organization for the purpose of electing legislators who think in terms of growing South Carolina’s economy.”

According to State Ethics Commission records, in the first three months of 2006, the Palmetto Leadership Council received $3,500 contributions — the maximum allowed — from each of 17 donors, including:

• The Joye Law Firm of Charleston

• BMW, the German carmaker with a U.S. plant in Greer

• Outdoor Advertising Association

• R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.

Cato’s political action committee, the Carolina Commerce Fund, raised nearly $100,000 from Jan. 1 through March 31 and has almost $110,000 in the bank.

Cato’s legislative committee has just finished a controversial overhaul of the state’s workers’ compensation system. In the first quarter of this year, his Carolina Commerce Fund received more than $20,000 from insurance companies who wanted the workers’ comp system changed to be more favorable to them and employers.

The money that comes to his PAC “allows me to assist other legislators in raising funds for their campaign,” Cato said, and in no way does the money influence how he deals with legislation.

“There’s nothing wrong with leadership PACs,” Cato said. “It’s just another PAC as far as I look at it.”

According to State Ethics Commission records, there were 630 political action committees registered in South Carolina as of March.

Rep. Nikki Haley, R-Lexington, is one of the co-sponsors of Tripp’s bill.

“I’m one of those people who think you can’t put enough sunshine on the process,” she said.

The bill’s chances of becoming law this year are slim. It must pass the House and make it to the Senate by May 1, or it would take a two-thirds vote of the Senate just for the measure to be considered this year.

Considering most bills go through subcommittee hearings and then full committee debate before reaching the floor, Tripp’s bill could have a short life — as his legislative career does.

He is not seeking re-election in November.

Reach Gould Sheinin at (803) 771-8658.