H. 3195 seems to ban using campaign funds to pay fines, fees, or other charges as a result of a criminal charges. The prohibition, however, would only apply once an elected official is found guilty of the crime. To put this into perspective, the recent case of public corruption involving former speaker Bobby Harrell resulted in campaign expenditures in excess of $113,000 for the former lawmaker to defend himself against the charges, according to a recent story in The State. Under this proposal, that would still be allowed. Campaign funds should not only not be used to defend an elected official against crimes he may have committed in his official capacity, but they also shouldn’t be spent on any other official duties.