MyrtleBeachSC.com spoke with S.C. Attorney General candidate William Herlong in Mt. Pleasant about his feelings on the current legal issues facing S.C. State Government. With the June 12th Republican primary now just months away Candidate Herlong is running against incumbent Attorney General Alan Wilson.
The role of Attorney General is South Carolina’s Chief Criminal Prosecutor, Chief Legal Officer and Securities Commissioner. The South Carolina Constitution defines the Attorney General as the “chief prosecuting officer of the State with authority to supervise the prosecution of all criminal cases in courts of record.”
Incumbent A.G. Wilson has been hounded by his ongoing connections to a years long state-wide corruption probe. Wilson chose to recuse himself from prosecuting those charged in the case because of his political associations to elected officials now convicted. Wilson’s former political consultant Richard Quinn Sr. is at the center of the probe being prosecuted by Special Prosecutor David Pascoe.
Mr. Herlong is an attorney from Greenville, S.C. who says what he looks most forward to is going after the corruption in Columbia. Mr. Herlong called elected officials who take advantage of the public trust “leaches.”
News of the Rick Quinn Jr. sentencing came in yesterday, February 12th. Circuit Judge Carmen Mullen sentenced former House Majority Leader Rick Quinn to two years of probation Monday on a misconduct charge. The charges for Quinn were reduced in a plea deal with the state by Special Prosecutor Pascoe.
Residents of Horry County expressed their feelings on social media as the sentencing was reported. Many believed the sentence amounted to a mere slap on the wrist.
Said Herlong, “I was deeply disappointed by the sentence imposed by the Judge. It doesn’t change the fact that he [Quinn] pleaded guilty to some terrible, terrible things and I’ll tell you what he did was abuse the public trust and in my mind that is even worse than knocking over a convenience store.” Herlong added, “If I’m elected Attorney General, I’m going to try to put people like him [Quinn] in jail.”
