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Brown, who won his seat in a March 2008 special election, is running for re-election Nov. 3. He did not return telephone calls or an e-mail seeking comment Wednesday.
None of the five other candidates in Bluffton's special election are on the Ethics Commission's debtors list.
The outstanding fine does not prevent Brown from running for re-election, said Cathy Hazelwood, general counsel for the Ethics Commission.
"The state constitution sets out the requirements of running for office, and changing the state constitution is no easy deal," Hazelwood said. in an email.
Brown canuse the remaining cash from his 2008 campaign to finance the current one, she said.
Brown apparently filed an incomplete financial disclosure form a month after the 2008 special election, when he still had almost $1,400 in cash on-hand, Hazelwood said.
Two months later, in June, the Ethics Commission sent Brown a letter requesting the complete filing within 10 days, Hazelwood said.
Brown did not respond, she said.
Nearly a year later, the Ethics Commission charged Brown a $100 late filing penalty, according to a May 8, 2009, letter to Brown from the commission.
The letter says that if the state didn't receive the fine and the complete forms within 10 days, additional fines would accrue at a rate of up to $100 a day.
After racking up a $16,500 fine, Brown filed the complete forms Oct. 5, Hazelwood said.
That figure represents the minimum fine Brown faces. The state is auditing the forms to ensure they are complete, she said.
Next month, the Ethics Commission will turn over Brown's file to the S.C. Department of Revenue, where officials will decide on a plan for the council member to pay the fine, Hazelwood said. It could be taken from Brown's wages or from his annual tax return -- or a combination of the two -- until it is paid, she said. Brown is a maintenance engineer for the S.C. Department of Transportation and serves as a deacon at First Zion Baptist Church in Bluffton.
The fine "stays out there forever until it's paid," Hazelwood said.
More than 200 debtors statewide were named on the Ethics Commission's list Wednesday. Fines ranged from a low of $22.36 for Jasper County Councilman Leroy Blackshear, to a high of $522,000 for Eastover Town Council candidate Richard Johnson, according to the state list.
"This list is long and there are some startling figures," Hazelwood said.
The debtors account for between 5 and 10 percent of all the candidates who filed for office, she said.
"Most people file correctly and never have to see their name on this list," she said. "It's just folks that ignore our correspondence who wind up on it."
