Last March, U.S. Rep. Henry Brown, R-Hanahan, who owns land adjacent to the Marion National Forest, inadvertently burned 20 acres of public land. As a result, in keeping with administrative rules, the U.S. Forest Service attempted to give Brown a $250 ticket and bill him $7,000 for damaging public land.

State Sen. Arthur Ravenel, R-Mount Pleasant, who had had a similar experience, gave Brown some good advice concerning the ticket and damages bill: Just pay them.

Instead, Brown balked, allegedly telling a Forest Service supervisor that his political opponents would find out about the fine if he had to list it on his ethics report. Brown threatened closer congressional scrutiny of Forest Service programs, according to a complaint two Forest Service employees filed with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Brown disputes this version of events. But he has never paid the ticket or the damages. And, even though the agency's rules grant no relief from fines attributable to "an accident of God," as Brown called the March fire, he says paying it "would be like admitting I did something wrong." That isn't the issue here.

This whole business is profoundly disturbing. As of the March 16 filing deadline, Brown had only token opposition in his bid for re-election this year. So his putative fear that having a Forest Service ticket on his ethics report could harm his political career is laughable. And even if he'd had credible major-party opponents, he would have faced only chiding over the incident, as he clearly didn't intend to harm public property.

Even though the office of Strom Thurmond Jr., U.S. attorney for South Carolina, counseled the Forest Service to treat Brown just like any other citizen, Brown clearly believes he merits special treatment. If he didn't, he would have paid his fine. The rest of us, Ravenel included, would have had no choice.

These events may not call Brown's qualifications for office into question. But they do raise doubts about his sense of proportion and about his conception of the appropriate use of congressional power. If he is to regain his credibility with his constituents, he needs to work doubly hard to erase these doubts.