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ATLANTA - Ralph Hudgens, a candidate for the Republican nomination for insurance commissioner, said Wednesday he won't reverse a transfer of $106,000 in 126 donations from his Senate re- election fund to his current campaign even though he acknowledges now he was acting on bad advice.

Hudgens, a state senator from Hull near Athens, sent the contributors a letter in October on a replica of his Senate letterhead in which he said he would transfer their donations unless they objected. Only one did, he said, a political-action committee for insurance agents who are prohibited by law from contributing to the campaign of the office that regulates their industry. No others have objected since the transaction was made public.

He said he was advised by a member of the staff at the State Ethics Commission who has since left that the transaction complied with the law. But a complaint filed with the commission Tuesday alleges that it was a violation.

Wednesday, Hudgens said Replica Christian Dior Watches he now knows he was steered wrong after reading an advisory opinion from 2008 that is posted on the commission's web site. However, he isn't going to undo it although he hasn't spent any of the funds.

"To me if I did that, it would almost be like me saying, 'Hey, you caught me. I was doing something wrong,' and I didn't do anything wrong," he said. "I did exactly what I was told to do."

Instead of immediate action, he's seeking direction from the Ethics Commission.

"I want the Ethics Commission to tell me what they want me to do," he said. "One thing I value is my good name, and I feel like I've got a very good name and that I'm very honest."

The advisory opinion says such transfers would only be permissible after refunding each contributor. Then the new campaign could request a new donation, which could be done Replica Seiko Watches by endorsing over the refund check itself as long as it didn't exceed the dollar limits for that office.

Legislation gaining bipartisan strength in the House would limit to $10,000 the amount that candidates could shift from their campaigns to any political-action committee or party. The bill by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Wendall Willard has more than 40 legislators from both parties co-sponsoring it.

The bill also aims to make clear that candidates can't transfer to their own accounts for a different office by using a colleague's campaign account to launder the funds. Some candidates in past elections have transferred all the leftover funds from their re- election accounts to a colleague's campaign who then transferred the same amount to the candidate's new campaign account.

The issue of ethics took center stage at this year's legislative session even before it began on Monday because Glenn Richardson resigned last month as speaker of the House in the wake of allegations by his ex-wife that he had an affair with a lobbyist. , (404) 589-8424