Monday night was an all hands on deck moment for South Carolina candidates running in the June 12th primary.
The South Carolina Attorney General’s seat is up for grabs. Greenville Attorney William Herlong, Todd Atwater, and current S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson each made their case before Horry County voters.
Herlong believes ethics reform in Columbia is vital and has made it an ongoing fundamental component of his campaign since he first decided to run. Herlong spoke passionately and impressively.
Herlong said, “Fighting corruption is priority number one. Fighting corruption is priority number two and fighting corruption is priority number three.”
Most of our readers are very aware of Solicitor David Pascoe’s ongoing investigation into the current State-Wide corruption probe. Friends and associates of Richard Quinn, Sr. continue to be hounded by innuendo and allegations from the probe. Current S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson is a self described friend of Quinn. He also previously employed Quinn as his political consultant.
Quinn testified in April to a Grand Jury. The specifics of his testimony are held confidential by that Grand Jury. Wilson appointed Pascoe to run the probe, which has netted several high profile indictments including the former Speaker of the S.C. House. Wilson recused himself from the case because of Wilson’s long standing friendship with Quinn. The subsequent legal issues that followed between Pascoe and Wilson can be read here: https://law.justia.com/cases/south-carolina/supreme-court/2016/27646.html
The Three Candidates Speak In Conway Monday Night
As the current top attorney in the state, Wilson made his case to the Conway, S.C. crowd. He also brought in a strong team of supporters each wearing Wilson campaign tee shirts. A straw poll was held at the rally with Wilson getting 68% of the straw poll vote.
Several leading state-wide Democrats worked our news channel insisting that Wilson will be indicted this July. It was curious to MyrtleBeachSC.com, however, that none of these politicians would officially go on the record with those comments. Because of his past associations with Quinn, these allegations are likely to haunt Wilson right through the general election into November, should he win the primary.
The Democratic challenger for S.C. Attorney General, Ethics Professor Constance Anastopoulo did go on the record, however. “As an Ethics professor at the Charleston School of Law, I take the possibility of an indictment against the Attorney General, the Chief Law Enforcement officer of our state, as very serious and very concerning. Ethics and honesty are fundamental to me and fundamental to the state of South Carolina and its great citizens.”
Attorney General Wilson has not been indicted in the probe.
The Wilson team told MyrtleBeachSC.com that those statements belong in the category of rumor. In short, voters should not be concerned with those rumors as they vote in the June 12th primaries.