SOLICITOR CANDIDATES DEBATE

May 20th, 2008: Two well qualified attorneys, each of whom wishes to become the county solicitor, shared their backgrounds and goals with our assembled Rotary.

Blair Jennings, who grew up in Mt. Pleasant, is a graduate of the USC School of Law and has worked in prosecuting work since graduation, with 12 years in the Berkeley County office. During that time, he prosecuted 60 murder cases including one in which the death penalty was imposed. His goal is to work in close cooperation with the sheriff’s office and other municipalities to attain convictions. He is committed to dealing with the many problems of illegal immigrants. He is further committed to major change in the parole system which currently permits all too many of those convicted to return to the streets again and again, continually breaking the law.

Scarlett Wilson grew up in Hemingway and graduated from the USC School of Law. She immediately went into prosecution work gaining over 15 years experience, including 6 1/2 years as a Federal prosecutor. Her goal is to continue the work of the former solicitor who died while in office with an emphasis on stopping the “revolving door” in which persons are arrested, bonded, are re-arrested and bonded, on and on. She has worked to support alternative measures to jailing non-violent persons; those with addiction problems should be given help to get the addiction under control. These programs have been successful. She believes the intervention programs she implemented in Berkeley County to assist juvenile in rehabilitation are 92% successful.

Both candidates stressed the solicitor must be a person with experience and the ongoing work should rise above politics and deal directly with the needs and concerns facing the office of the solicitor.

Reported by Fred Sales, Keyway Committee