COLUMBIA, S.C. (WACH, AP) -- South Carolina Senate Democrats want to remove the secrecy of investigations by the House and Senate ethics committees.

On Wednesday, several Democratic lawmakers and the director of a government watchdog group pushed a measure that would would make investigations subject to the state's public records law once committee members determine a complaint has merit.

The measure comes during the possible ethics investigation into Governor Nikki Haley.

Senator Brad Hutto, an Orangeburg County Democrat, took aim at the governor questioning her commitment to transparency in government, which was a major part of her platform in her run for governor.

"This is an administration that said it was going to be the most transparent in history," said Hutto. "Well, it hasn't happened so far. But, we're here to help them out."

Last month, a judge dismissed a lawsuit accusing Haley of breaking ethics laws while she was a state lawmaker, saying issues like that should be handled by either state ethics officials or a legislative panel.

The push for the Transparency in Ethics Act comes at a time when the South Carolina Ethics Commission is looking into alleged record-keeping errors linked to Haley's campaign contributions during her run for the office she now holds.

State Republicans question the timing of Wednesday's proposal and call it a political stunt.

"Certainly no one is against transparency in the process," said Matt Moore of the SC Republican Party. "But, it ought to take its course in the right way and not be subjected to this kind of political grandstanding like we've seen here."

Right now House and Senate ethics committee proceedings are kept secret. This new ethics proposal would open them to the public once it's determined a complaint has merit.

Government watchdog groups say it's a must.

"The public interest in knowing about these complaints is much more important than the selfish interests of legislators in trying to hide the existence of complaints," said John Crangle director of Common Cause, an ethics watchdog group.

The governor has said she would not waive confidentiality to any legislative ethics investigation.

The people pushing the Tranparency in Ethics Act say everyone under the State House dome should be willing to pull back the curtain.

"Our lives are so public anyway almost everything we do somebody asks about or questions," said Hutto. "I don't konw why we wouldn't go ahead and totally make this a transparent process because if you haven't done anything wrong you shouldn't have anything to hide."

The state Ethics Commission has set a July 18 hearing in the Haley case. They are expected to deal with seven allegations linked to alleged errors in properly recording campaign contributions.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)