Columbia - First it was speeding 101 mph down Interstate 77, now it's allegations of political favoritism to hire a state senator's son - the saga of Statehouse bad boy Andre Bauer never ends.

And its aftermath is catching one of the lieutenant governor's GOP primary opponents, too. On Feb. 13, Mike Campbell's vehicle was stopped by New Ellenton police for going 55 mph in a 35 mph zone. Adam Piper, Campbell's political director, who was driving at the time, received a verbal warning.

But still it's Bauer that's attracting the most attention after he was caught speeding twice in a two-month period and escaped a ticket both times, according to video evidence provided to The Post and Courier and other media outlets last week.

The 37-year-old Republican quickly apologized and sought to make amends by walking 10 miles to file his re-election papers.

Bauer and his allies in the Senate also pointed the finger across the hallway at Gov. Mark Sanford for denying the state's No. 2 ranking official a personal security detail and driver after the money was put in last year's budget.

But that line of reasoning backfired late last week, as the governor's office explained that the detail was a back-door attempt to get Bauer's aide John McGill hired as the bodyguard.

Bauer has requested detail in the past, but denies the claim that he wanted state Sen. Yancey McGill's son to fill the position.

"John has a full-time job in the lieutenant governor's office," Bauer said. "I don't want to lose him."

That's not the version Sanford's office and Department of Public Safety Director Jim Schweitzer tell.

Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer said that last year Bauer "expressed interest in Sen. McGill's son becoming part of DPS."

Then during the state budget process, Sen. Hugh Leatherman, the powerful Senate Finance Committee chairman, told Schweitzer that he put $64,000 extra into the department's budget.

The state's budget didn't say how it should be spent, but Sanford recognized it as "good-ol'-boy budgeting," Sawyer said.

"Based on that information, we determined it was a 'pass through' to hire a specific individual to a particular job," Sawyer said. "The fact that being the son of a senator entitles you to a state position is complete counter to what we've been working for."

Leatherman, R-Florence, Yancey McGill, R-Kingstree, and John McGill were unavailable for comment.

Public safety said that the $64,000 was not spent. Now a number of senators who came to Bauer's defense want to see that money spent on its original purpose.

"This part-time lieutenant governor makes it a full-time job, y'all," said Sen. Jackie Knotts, R-Lexington, on the Senate floor Thursday. "He doesn't have to but he does it for the good of the people of South Carolina."

Knotts blames Sanford's denial of the detail for Bauer even being in this position. "He tried to embarrass the lieutenant governor," Knotts said. "It was politics that caused this."

Sawyer dismissed the allegations, saying "it should not cost taxpayers $64,000 to keep the lieutenant governor's speedometer out of triple digits."

Bauer is trying to stay out of the fray, using humor to deflect some of the negative attention.

At the behest of a Columbia country radio station, Bauer raced listeners at a go-kart track Friday. The winner got concert tickets.

"I (went) as slow as I could and let them all blow by me," Bauer said.

Political pundit Scott Huffmon of Winthrop University said such gimmicks will go only so far.

But as Campbell's case illustrates, every statewide candidate had better come up with some explanation, because even the smallest things matter this election season.

John Frank covers the Legislature and state politics in Columbia. Reach him at (803) 799-9051 or jbfrank@postandcourier.com.

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