Lord's gamble

If you believe all the rumors bouncing around, Leighton Lord,III, a Republican candidate for Attorney General, is mounting a so called “whisper” campaign about how the next Attorney General ought not to be an experienced prosecutor. Fair enough.

Mr. Lord has his reasons for believing such. Lord spent years managing a big law firm, and it is natural that he would like to see the Attorney General’s office viewed as a big law firm that he could manage. Mr. Lord is entitled to his perception of the office.

However, the public perception of the office of Attorney General has been different than Mr. Lord’s apparent perception. Over the past few decades, the Attorney General of South Carolina has been seen as sort of the state’s top cop. There is good reason for that. The Attorney General is the state’s top prosecutor, and holds sort of a supervisory role over the state’s solicitors. While there might be civil litigation here and there that holds the state’s attention, it is the role of chief prosecutor against crime that the Attorney General is best known for.

That is what makes Lord’s alleged contention about the office a bit puzzling. Does Lord really believe that people will choose an office manager over a fighter for justice? Perhaps Lord and his people have no choice but to shift the argument. Lord’s chief opponent, Alan Wilson, is not only a proven prosecutor, but a veteran of the Iraq war. If the campaign becomes about who fights for justice, there is no comparison.

Thus, it seems, Lord and his people are quietly trying to shift the discussion to who has office management skills. It might work. Lord does have an incredible amount of money to spend. But, it is risky. Should the discussion not be successfully shifted to office management, Lord has opened himself to his greatest weakness: no significant prosecutorial experience. People tend to see the Attorney General as SC’s top cop. If that holds, Lord can spend a fortune and find himself conceding to a proven prosecutor and vet like Wilson in June.