JENNINGS HAS HARD TIME TELLING TRUTH IN CAMPAIGN SPOT

Political ads certainly have a propensity for taking a little liberty with the truth. But there is a big difference between embellishing and deceiving voters.

Take for example Blair Jennings, who is challenging 9th Circuit Solicitor Scarlett Wilson in a very heated Lowcountry GOP primary. He is the first to take to television airwaves with a 30-second spot titled “Tough.”

Unfortunately, the only thing “tough” about this ad is the love it garnered Jennings from the Charleston Post and Courier when they went through and debunked some of the untruthful claims in the ad.

“Jennings has put some of our area’s worst criminals in prison, convicting over 60 homicide cases,” the narrator says. “The only candidate to successfully prosecute a death penalty case, convicting cop killer Jesse Sapp.”

But in reality, the newspaper claims, those “60 homicides” include a large number of wrongful criminal deaths, felony DUI deaths and manslaughter.

“His use of the phrase ‘60 homicide convictions’ leaves viewers with the impression that he took that many to trial,” Wilson said. “When most were guilty pleas that never went to a jury.”

Jennings also says he is the only candidate to successfully prosecute a death penalty case.

The Post and Courier notes the problems here are: 1. he only helped late Solicitor Ralph Hoisington prosecute a 2003 in which the jury awarded the death penalty; 2. Wilson worked with Hoisington on a 2000 death penalty case in which the jury recommended a sentence of life in prison; 3. Wilson currently has three death penalty cases on the docket, two of which are scheduled for trial this fall.

I think the only thing that is truthful about this ad is the “Paid for by Blair Jennings” tag at the bottom. And for all I know, that may not even be true.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 8th, 2008 at 1:53 pm and is filed under Judicial. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.