South Carolina Attorney General Race: A Surprise Contender?

If someone genuinely wanted to be a State AG because they truly wanted to do those core things that that make up the job (prosecuting criminals, rooting out corruption, taking up lawsuits against federal overreach, giving sound legal guidance the State’s various agencies and officials) then they would guide their career path to gain experience in at least one or two of those core functions. Neither Timmons nor McMaster Jr. have done any of those things. So what that tells you- and this doesn’t mean they are bad people or anything like that – is that they just view this as either some sort of entitlement or a brief stepping stone to higher political ambitions. The AG is possibly the single most powerful elected official in SC government in terms of what they can do towards the life, limb, and property of the State’s citizens – the powers and immunities they hold are awesome indeed. Dilettantes of the law should not be in the room for consideration of that post. They must be people who understand the grave seriousness and extremely high moral character that should hold those powers. Vindictiveness, narcissism, cowardice are all disqualifying characteristics (and I’m not saying that McM Jr. or Timmons are that way). Looking at the field of publicly declared candidates, really only Stumbo or Pascoe should be under any serious consideration – the rest are either too dangerous in terms of their personality traits, or just not prepared for the job.