No campaign funds for fines

The South Carolina Ethics Commission has posted Advisory Opinion 2019-001 on its website, and you can read it here.

Basically, what it says is that a candidate or person elected to office cannot use campaign funds to pay fines and penalties assessed by the Ethics Commission.

There is an interesting comparison of the Ethics Commissions' opinions of the South Carolina House of Representatives and the South Carolina Senate. The House says "No, you can't", but the Senate says "Yes, you can."

The Ethics Commission, whose authority now exists over the House and the Senate, says, "No, you can't."

Unfortunately, the door was left ajar, as is revealed in the last sentence in the Opinion. It reads, "The Commission accepts the recommendation of the Commission staff that this Opinion be issued on a prospective basis only."

Does that mean that, if Amelia McKie has any campaign funds left over, she'll be able to use donated campaign funds to settle part of her $51,850 debt at the Ethics Commission? I wonder how her donors and supporters will feel about that.