NC Attorney General candidates discuss key issues
Rep. Jeff Jackson (left), Rep. Dan Bishop (right)
Among the most important races in North Carolina is the contest to see who will become the state’s next attorney general, the office that represents the state in legal proceedings while also offering legal advice to prosecutors and law enforcement across the state.
Not only is the role itself important, but the office can frequently serve as a step toward the governor’s mansion. Most recently, current Gov. Roy Cooper assumed the office after serving 16 years as attorney general, and Josh Stein is now running for governor after serving two terms as attorney general.
Running for attorney general this year are two sitting U.S. representatives, Republican Dan Bishop and Democrat Jeff Jackson. While Jackson has touted his experience as a prosecutor during his campaign, Bishop has made law and order the cornerstone of his, frequently calling out problems he sees with cultural shifts in the United States and noting how he thinks they’ve led to increases in crime.
In interviews with The Smoky Mountain News, both men talked about a few specific issues.
On Sept. 7, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians officially began selling cannabis to any adult over the age of 21, and there are indications that the state may follow suit in the next few years. Jackson said he thinks the tribe may be onto something from a revenue standpoint, but he also said he believes there are legitimate medical and therapeutic uses for the substance.
“I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t at least have medical marijuana. I’ve continually been surprised that that gets blocked in the state … I’m a veteran. I got friends with PTSD who swear to me that it’s the only thing that helps,” he said.
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While Bishop wasn’t too keen on the legalization of recreational cannabis in North Carolina, he said that if the General Assembly passes such a bill that his office would coordinate to uphold the law as written on the state level. He said that while his office doesn’t prosecute offenses, he can work with district attorneys to figure out how to best adapt to new laws. He talked about a specific concern prosecutors may have.
“In those states that have done legalization, they’ve seen a rapid and extensive increase in drug driving, drug driving fatalities,” he said.
Combating the scourge of fentanyl has been a top priority for both candidates. Jackson had a somewhat nuanced idea that would target money launderers looking to move profits from drug sales up the chain of command. He pointed to a new anti-money laundering law that’s going into effect December and said he hopes to see more.
“It’s going to make it easier to launch investigations,” Jackson said. “It will make it easier to go up the supply chain, and it will also make it easier to coordinate with federal law enforcement, because they do a lot of anti-money laundering investigations.”
When it comes to the state’s gun violence problem, which claimed 1,699 lives last year, Jackson said he would be in favor of moderate reforms.
“We should have red flag laws that allow due process to keep the public safe from those folks … there are also opportunities for strengthening domestic violence laws with respect to restraining orders, and I think we need better safe storage was so that children aren’t getting their hands on guns,” Jackson said.
Bishop said that there has been widespread availability of firearms in the United States as long as it has existed and that there are other problems more worth focusing on than guns themselves.
“The progressives say, ‘it’s the guns, it’s the guns,” Bishop said. “Well, the guns have always been here … if you look to Great Britain right now, you see the continuous slate of mass stabbings they’re having, I mean, things will still develop to violence if you have those pathologies.”
The central thesis of Bishop’s campaign is that a lack of law and order is creating more problems, and one of those is the massive amount of gun violence. He noted that the lack of law and order makes the jobs of law enforcement officers and prosecutors harder than they already have been. He used the defund the police movement as an example.
“That is the worst policy idea in the history of the country,” he said before tying the movement to Democrats, many of whom disavow that philosophy altogether.
Jackson is quick to point out that he has been a firm supporter of law enforcement.
“In Congress, I got a million dollars for the Gastonia Police Department to purchase new technology for their real-time crime center,” he said. “Enhancing technological capabilities for law enforcement is going to be really important over the next few years.”
While Jackson entertains police reform theories, Bishop said he hasn’t seen any cause for reform and rejects the premise that there are racial disparities in the justice system.
“Police are neutralized and intimidated and thrown under the bus whenever an incident occurs, regardless of merit,” he said. “There’s always an abusive person in every line of work, in every part of society, and when somebody violates standards that are well established, that person is going to be susceptible to being held accountable in every way. But I am confident that the law enforcement, criminal justice system in North Carolina is just, and I’m going to make sure it works. I’m not going to see it corroded and broken down by this constant sole focus on the interest of those who are wrongdoers to the neglect and disregard of the interests of victims.”
