Verne Smith

COLUMBIA -- Greer Republican and former state Sen. Verne Smith has pumped at least $25,000 into Democratic Party efforts to defeat GOP Gov. Mark Sanford.

The same Republicans that reveled in Smith's switch to the GOP in 2001 -- a move that gave Republicans control of the Senate and the Legislature for the first time since the 1870s -- don't like this latest move at all.

The 82-year-old lawmaker resigned in July after complications from a 2005 gall bladder surgery had kept him out of the Senate chamber this year. He says he's not even been out of the house for hair cuts.

Earlier this week, Smith taped a commercial at his home with former Gov. Richard Riley, a Democrat, in support of Sanford's

Democratic opponent, Aiken County state Sen. Tommy Moore.

"I don't feel he's the right man to be governor, but I'm not going to get any deeper into that. I know Dick Riley and I know Tommy Moore and I'd trust either one of them," Smith said during the taping Monday.

"It felt good," to tape the pro-Moore ad, Smith said Wednesday.

"I never have liked the governor that we've got now," Smith said.

State Democratic Party Chairman Joe Erwin said Smith wanted the donation, which "might have been $35,000," to be used to help Moore. But "he didn't make any specific demands of me on spending the money," Erwin said.

Political donors can't direct how their cash is used, state GOP Chairman Katon Dawson said.

Some Republicans are bothered that Smith gave money to Democrats at all after getting GOP money and support since 2001.

That assistance makes it feel "like he's backed out of the hospitality Republicans have shown him," said Rick Beltram, chairman of the Spartanburg County GOP.

Seeing Smith give to Democrats is "sad and it's unfortunate," Dawson said.

But Dawson tempers the criticism. "Senator Smith certainly served South Carolina for a long time and was a Democrat for a long time," he said. "We wish him well and hope he gets better."

Dawson said he held back from seeking a donation from Smith because of the former lawmaker's poor health. "He's always been kind to the Republican Party," particularly by becoming a high-dollar donor when asked, Dawson said.

When Smith filed his last campaign finance report at the end of June he had $168,850 on hand.

"I don't think I've disposed of all of it," Smith told the AP, who added he didn't have details to share.

As for criticism from Republicans for the donation, "I haven't heard anything about that," Smith said.

A review of Smith's campaign finance records since he first ran as a Republican in 2004 show less than $4,000 in donations from readily identifiable Republican groups and that he had $127,500 left in his account in 2001 when he switched parties. The combination may mute criticism that he's taken cash from Republican donors and given it to Democrats.

"There's a way of looking at it about any way you want," Smith said.

Beltram, for instance, says Smith benefited for years from GOP donors while he was Democrat. "That all comes with you" with the switch, he said.

But Erwin, like Dawson, would like to see more of Smith's checkbook. "The way I look at it is he owes us some more money," Erwin said with a laugh.