[nfbmi-talk] federationist in the news south carolina ag race

[joe harcz Comcast]

Parnell Diggs Federationist in the News

Attorney General

 

Parnell Diggs (Democratic)

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Diggs - FILE PHOTO

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Diggs

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Let's talk about gay marriage. Last week, incumbent Attorney General Alan Wilson took on the unenviable task of defending South Carolina's constitutional

amendment that defines marriage as strictly between a man and a woman. His opponent in the upcoming November election, Parnell Diggs, says he would not

have defended that law.

 

"The writing is on the wall," Diggs says. "It's time that Alan Wilson sees that writing and enforces the law in South Carolina in accordance with the way

the courts are headed."

 

To Diggs, the message was clear when the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals refused to hear an appeal last Monday on a lower court's ruling that said Virginia's

same-sex marriage ban was unconstitutional. He says South Carolina, which is now the only state in the 4th Circuit with a gay marriage ban, should have

gotten the message. "The state ban is unconstitutional because the 4th Circuit has said so, and the Supreme Court has decided, at least at this point,

not to disturb that view," Diggs says.

 

Diggs, a general practice attorney from Garden City, has been an activist for most of his adult life. Born blind due to detached retinas, he has served

as a state leader for the National Federation of the Blind since 2000. As an attorney general, he says he would stand in opposition to some of the decisions

Wilson has made while in office.

 

"Advocacy is in my blood. People say the attorney general is not really an advocate, but in this case Alan Wilson is showing he is advocating for an issue

that is important to him, and that is to limit marriage to a legal relationship between a man and a woman," Diggs says.

 

Diggs watched in dismay in recent years as Wilson fought against marriage equality, against the Affordable Care Act's mandated expansion of Medicaid, and

in favor of a law that requires all South Carolina voters to show a photo ID at the polls. In support of the voter ID law, which some advocates have said

presents poor people and minorities with an obstacle to voting, Wilson famously claimed that hundreds of votes had been cast in the name of people who

were already deceased (the so-called "zombie voters" storyline of 2012). A subsequent report by the State Law Enforcement Division found absolutely no

evidence to support Wilson's claim, and The Washington Post gave Wilson's statement a truth rating of Four Pinocchios.

 

"We should find ways to get people access to the ballot box instead of ways to keep them from voting," Diggs says. If elected, he says he would work on

initiatives to promote voting in high schools and to pre-register teenagers so they can vote when they turn 18.

 

Alan Wilson (Republican, Incumbent)

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Wilson - FILE PHOTO

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Wilson

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Attorney General Alan Wilson's campaign staff did not return multiple requests to set up an interview last week. In Wilson's defense, he was having a busy

week. Wilson's campaign website,

wilsonforag.com,

states, "He has protected South Carolina's right-to-work, helped lead the 26-state challenge to the federal healthcare mandate, and successfully safeguarded

South Carolina's voter identification and immigration laws in court. Alan works closely with other attorneys general across the nation to protect the rule

of law and defend the constitution on issues such as Obamacare, Dodd-Frank, EPA overreach, Yucca Mountain, MOX facility, religious freedom, and many others."

 

 

Source:

http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/charleston/statewide-candidates-disagree-on-gay-marriage-scrooges-and-voter-id-laws/Content?oid=5010682

 

Note: Mr. Diggs is the Candidate for Attorney General in the State of South Carolina