MYRTLE BEACH--Leighton Lord touts his law enforcement training and in his most recent political ad says, "Hard working taxpayers deserve an Attorney General who can fight crime, corruption, and abuse," says Lord in the ad.
But Lord has no records of experience in law enforcement and has never served as a prosecutor.
On his Web site, Lord mentions "taking on a top-crime fighting job" while serving on a staff counsel to the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Investigations.
“You talk about fighting crime, you think of a policeman in the streets. You can think of prosecuting attorneys bringing charges, making cases, that's a little different from a congressional staffer going through reports, maybe helping draft legislation, prompting members of congress for hearings that will be coming up,” said Coastal Carolina University political science professor Dr. Paul Peterson in an interview with News 13.
In an e-mail, Lord responded to questions about his law enforcement training and experience by writing, "My legal counsel responsibilities necessitated law enforcement training at Quantico and central intelligence in the following areas: firearms operation, interrogation analysis, criminal deposition preparation and wire tap analysis, and classified information management.”
But Lord did not mention any actual experience in law enforcement, only training.
"And experience in Washington fighting organized crime, terrorism, and foreign born criminal aliens"
The quoted message "Leighton Lord zeros in on Asian organized crime" appears on the screen during the ad.
We asked Peterson if Lord should mention fighting “Asian organized crime” in the ad.
“Probably not. Certainly not in South Carolina. Maybe if he were running for attorney general in a state where that was a bigger problem that might resonate. Yeah, that is an interesting emphasis,” said Peterson.
But overall, Peterson says the ad will help lord.
“He got his money's worth from the people who put the ad together. He comes across as a young, energetic, certainly telegenic figure,” said Peterson.
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