14th Circuit Solicitor candidates spar in Bluffton

Is incumbent 14th Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone too entrenched in the political system to be an effective prosecutor?

Is it a conflict of interest for his challenger, Angela McCall-Tanner, to be married to Beaufort County’s top cop?

These were among the questions hotly debated Monday evening before an audience of about 40 potential voters at a candidate forum in Bluffton.

McCall-Tanner, wife of Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner and former 14th Circuit prosecutor and county magistrate judge, challenged her ex-boss’s efficacy and commitment to the job.

The challenger, who spent a dozen years working in the solicitor’s office and served as deputy solicitor under Stone, said conviction rates have dipped and “the office has fallen off” in recent years.

“There are things that are broken,” McCall-Tanner said, vowing to “bring back effective prosecutions.”

Stone touted his experience and stood by his performance over the past decade as the top prosecutor in Beaufort, Jasper, Hampton, Colleton and Allendale counties.

“I have prosecuted some of the worst of the worst — some people you can’t even imagine,” he said, citing a handful of recent cases including the murder of Khalil Singleton.

The voters will have to decide whether the candidates “are talking about it or doing it,” Stone said.

During his tenure, Stone “has transformed, and he is failing (the solicitor’s) office,” McCall-Tanner said.

“He has now become a politician” who makes the job “about himself” rather than the cases, she added.

Stone said as career prosecutor, “it’s not a job” to serve as solicitor.

“It’s not a political office; it’s a calling” he said. “... Am I entrenched? I hope so.”

Joe Iaco, forum moderator and president of the Greater Bluffton Republican Club, questioned McCall-Tanner about overcoming “the perception of a conflict of interest being married to the Beaufort County sheriff.”

She said that her marriage does present “a unique situation,” but it is “not a conflict of interest.”

“Law enforcement and prosecutors must communicate and share information,” McCall-Tanner said.

Stone “promoted me to deputy solicitor while I was married, so he didn’t have a problem with it back then either,” she added.

While Stone stopped short of outright calling his opponent’s marriage a conflict of interest, he tip-toed up to the line.

Stone said his decisions as solicitor “more than anything else, need to be credible.”

“When I make a decision about whether or not a police officer properly shot someone, everyone in the community has to know it’s a credible decision,” he said.

Ultimately, Stone said it “will be a decision for the voters to make” in regard to whether a conflict of interest exists.

Voters will get a chance to weigh in on that issue and the others raised at Monday’s forum when Stone and McCall-Turner, both Republicans, face off in the June 14 primary.

This story was originally published May 2, 2016 at 7:34 PM with the headline "14th Circuit Solicitor candidates spar in Bluffton."