In highly-contested campaigns that are unusually well-mannered, it’s interesting to see who blinks first. In the case of the 9th Circuit Solicitor’s race, Blair Jennings blinked first.
Airing on local stations this morning was an ad criticizing Scarlett Wilson for a plea deal given to a man accused of assault. He served two years and got out, eventually assaulting another woman.
The tag line was something like Blair Jennings will not be scared of prosecuting hard cases.
Couldn’t find the video on this.
UPDATE: The two candidates were on WTMA this morning and had a bit of back and forth on the ad. Wilson told Jennings it wasn’t fair to isolate this case when he’s worked similar plea deals. She also criticized him for not knowing the circumstances of the case.
It was interesting because we spoke with Jennings a few weeks ago about people making assumptions about cases from what they read in the paper.
Two recent debates have included questions about Wilson’s role in securing 10-year prison sentences for two Wando High students on armed robbery charges. The questions have centered on criticism that the setencing may have been too severe. Wilson has said the sentencing was in line with what Hoisington had been weighing before he got sick. She’s more concerned with Jennings’ refusal to say whether the sentencing was appropriate.
While he continues to assert that he doesn’t know anymore about the case than anyone else who reads the paper, Jennings told the City Paper that the criticism may be out of line from others who are just as uninformed about the case.
“You’ve got a lot of people making justifications without knowing all the information,” he says.
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