Charlotte Observer's Article

Good article about the race. They fairly present my positions near the end of the article. Check it out: 3 vie for DA post

Newton Observer News Enterprise

The Newton O-N-E asked me to respond to their questionnaire for the DA candidates. I did so, but they just notified me that due to lower-than-expected ad revenue, they're only going to run the answers of those candidates who face a May primary. Since I went to all that work, though, I thought I'd go ahead and post my answers here. So, without further ado, here they are:

Observer News-Enterprise

Candidate Questionnaire

1. History in office or experience that makes you a good candidate for elected office: I have been a criminal and civil attorney in the 25^th District for more than fifteen years, trying numerous cases in District and Superior Court throughout all three counties. I have also been on the Lenoir City Council for more than six years. I am prepared to handle not just the courtroom, but also the political pressures that go along with the job.

2. What do you see as the biggest issues facing this position in coming years, and how do you plan to address them? First is restoring the public’s faith in the District Attorney’s Office after some public embarrassments. Second is managing a three-county office on a continually tightening budget from Raleigh as the state’s budget crisis continues. I will act with honesty and integrity as your District Attorney. I will meet with the assistant district attorneys and their staff regularly to offer as well as receive feedback. I will focus the office’s increasingly limited resources in the most effective way possible, by aggressively prosecuting violent criminals as well as those who would seek to defraud us, steal our property, or endanger the safety of those of us on the roads.

3. What makes you the best candidate? In addition to my years as a trial attorney in this district, people have seen from my actions and votes on the Lenoir City Council that I am a man who stands for his principles and will not compromise in the face of well-organized opposition. I will make sure that the Office of District Attorney will aggressively and effectively seek to convict offenders, while it will also leave you alone if you respect other people’s rights, persons, and property.

My Manifesto as DA

It's really easy to propose legislation that comes down harder and harder on people accused of crime. That always appeals to the lowest common denominator; it's called pandering. I have never done it while on the Lenoir City Council, and I won't do it if you elect me your District Attorney.

What's difficult is following the law, keeping the government off law-abiding, peaceful people's backs, reducing the size, scope, and power of government, convicting only the guilty, and making our homes, bodies, and roads safer anyway. There's just no way to prosecute every crime that takes place, since our legislature has criminalized almost everything these days. I would make the tough decisions and prosecute the real crimes and the real criminals aggressively but fairly. I believe that will result in a safer, freer, more just society.

Ethics

"The United States Attorney is the representative not of an ordinary party to a controversy, but of a sovereignty whose obligation to govern impartially is as compelling as its obligation to govern at all; and whose interest, therefore, in a criminal prosecution is not that it shall win a case, but that justice shall be done. As such, he is in a peculiar and very definite sense the servant of the law, the twofold aim of which is that guilt shall not escape or innocence suffer." Berger v. United States, 295 U.S. 78, 88 (1935)

Oaths

IN case you ever wondered what a District Attorney swears to do:

"I, _______, do solemnly and sincerely swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States; that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to the State of North Carolina, and to the constitutional powers and authorities which are or may be established for the government thereof; and that I will endeavor to support, maintain and defend the Constitution of said State, not inconsistent with the Constitution of the United States, to the best of my knowledge and ability; so help me God."

"I, _____________, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will well and truly serve the State of North Carolina in the office of district attorney for the State; I will, in the execution of my office, endeavor to have the criminal laws fairly and impartially administered, so far as in me lies, according to the best of my knowledge and ability; so help me, God. "

Running Again

I'm running for 25th District DA now! More to come. In the meantime, feel free to comment here or e-mail me with any questions.