A Charleston grand jury handed down three indictments against City Councilman Kwadjo Campbell on Wednesday, charging him with misconduct in office and other crimes involving campaign funds.

Campbell, who also awaits trial on unrelated traffic offenses and a drug charge, likely will be suspended from his council seat by Gov. Mark Sanford as a result of the indictments, Sanford spokesman Will Folks said.

"We are awaiting a certified copy of the grand jury indictments," Folks said.

The charges come on the heels of Campbell's statement Tuesday that he won't seek re-election to a third term this year, and plans to leave the state at the end of his term. He said he wanted to spend more time with his wife, who lives in Virginia and is due to give birth to their first child within weeks.

Campbell, who had said he would be out of town all week, did not return repeated calls to his cell phone Wednesday.Charleston Mayor Joe Riley, who called on Campbell to resign in February after he was arrested twice within one week, said the indictments illustrate his concerns about the councilman's conduct. The mayor also had criticized Campbell in December for asking a developer to contribute to a neighborhood organization while a key zoning vote was pending.

"The grand jury's indictments confirm a pattern of corrupt behavior by Councilman Campbell," said the mayor. "He has the intellect to be a successful public official, but squandered the support and trust of those who elected him."

Riley said he had no involvement with the investigation of Campbell. He said he has written a letter to Sanford, calling on him to suspend Campbell from office. The mayor does not have the power to suspend an indicted councilman, and City Council can only remove a member from office upon conviction for certain crimes.

Campbell, 33, represents Charleston's East Side neighborhood and the Cainhoy peninsula on City Council.

When the charges against Campbell were approved, shortly before noon, Attorney General Henry McMaster's office immediately delivered a letter to Sanford, telling the governor that he could suspend Campbell because of the severity of one offense, misconduct in office.

Mark Plowden, a spokesman for McMaster, said the attorney general wasn't suggesting that Campbell should be suspended but was informing the governor of his options.

The misconduct in office charge, which carries a penalty of up to 10 years in jail, alleges that Campbell accepted campaign contributions above the legal limit, failed to deposit contributions into a campaign account, and filed false disclosure reports with the State Ethics Commission.

"Essentially, that's lying to the Ethics Commission," Plowden said. "We're talking about a deliberate attempt to mislead."

Campbell also is accused of cashing nearly $14,000 in campaign contributions between April 2000 and October 2003, and accepting $4,000 in campaign contributions from real estate businessman Benjamin Bryson during the final month of his mayoral campaign in 2003 -- $3,000 above the contribution limit.

The Rev. Joe Darby, vice president of the state NAACP, said many politicians have trouble getting their ethics forms right, and questioned if Campbell was being treated fairly.

He noted that earlier this week, Charleston County Council candidate Joey Douan's campaign reported that it twice received more than the $1,000 maximum allowable donation for the July 19 election. Douan has said the report was in error and will be corrected.

"If the attorney general is researching all of those (candidates) and will come down with similar indictments, I would say he's playing with an even hand," Darby said. "If not, I'd like to know why what's good for the black goose is not good for the white gander."

Herbert R. Hayden Jr., executive director of the State Ethics Commission, said it's true that candidates often have trouble handling and reporting campaign funds, but called Campbell's conduct "egregious."

Hayden said candidates who deposit campaign funds into their personal accounts typically repay the money and pay a fine.

"That was an option to (Campbell)," said Hayden, whose commission conducted the investigation leading to the indictments. "He's made no attempt to resolve the issue."

Campbell separately owes the commission about $60,000 in fines for failing to file financial forms, or filing them late.

"This was not a failure to file forms," Hayden said of the criminal charges. "This is a matter of taking campaign checks, cashing them, and putting them in his pocket."

Campbell earns about $11,000 yearly as a councilman, but has routinely encountered financial troubles serious enough to land him in court.

In May he was evicted from his apartment on Nassau Street, following several months of being taken before a judge by his landlord. Campbell said Tuesday that he has a different apartment on the same street.

Several years ago, Campbell was arrested repeatedly for making late child-support payments to his first wife, with whom he had two children. He does not own property in South Carolina, and receives no regular wage income outside his council stipend, according to the Ethics Commission.

Campbell has said he operates a consulting business, and that cash flow issues caused him trouble paying his rent. He sometimes tends bar at LJ's Soul Food restaurant on upper King Street.

Bryson, the businessman Campbell is accused of accepting excessive contributions from, said he had heard the councilman's finances were under scrutiny.

"We had all heard he took some of our money and didn't spend it on the campaign," Bryson said. "We all knew the Ethics Commission was looking at him."

Though the 11-month probe was the subject of rumor and whispers, the Ethics Commission doesn't comment upon or confirm the existence of ongoing investigations.

If Sanford were to suspend Campbell, his seat would remain open until the charges against Campbell are resolved, or until his term expires in January.

CHARGES IN DETAIL

1. Failure to deposit campaign contributions into a campaign account, a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison, a $5,000 fine, or both.

The indictment alleges Campbell cashed about 30 campaign contribution checks worth nearly $14,000, and didn't report the money in campaign finance disclosure documents.

2. Acceptance of unlawful campaign contribution, a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison, a $5,000 fine, or both.

The indictment alleges that between Nov. 7 and Nov. 17, 2003, Campbell solicited and accepted two campaign contributions of $1,500 and $2,500 that exceeded the maximum contribution limit and didn't report the money on financial disclosure forms.

3. Misconduct in office, a misdemeanor punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

The indictment alleges Campbell willfully and intentionally engaged in acts of misconduct as a public official.

The alleged acts include accepting campaign contributions in excess of those allowed by law, failing to deposit campaign contributions into a campaign bank account, failing to maintain proper records of campaign contributions and expenditures, and filing false disclosure reports regarding campaign contributions to the State Ethics Commission.

SOURCE: Attorney General Henry McMaster's office