Lord leads GOP fund race

Columbia lawyer and Santee Cooper board member Leighton Lord III leads the four announced candidates in fundraising for the state attorney general's race in the June 8 primaries.

Lord, 45, raised $250,475 as of Dec. 31, according to campaign disclosure statements filed with the State Ethics Commission. Before he went to work for Nexsen Pruet 16 years ago, Lord served as Republican staff counsel for the U.S. Senate's permanent subcommittee on investigations.

Lord is followed by Robert Bolchoz, 45, also a Columbia lawyer, who has raised $168,291 so far.

Alan Wilson, 35, a lawyer and the son of Republican U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, has raised $95,056, including a $500 contribution from his father. Alan Wilson, who lives in Lexington County and practices in Columbia, is a former county assistant solicitor and a former state assistant attorney general.

Lord, Bolchoz and Wilson are running as Republicans.

The lone Democrat to announce formally, David Pascoe, the state's 1st Circuit solicitor, has raised only $2,600.

"I haven't started raising money yet," Pascoe said Tuesday. "I wanted to wait until the beginning of the year to make sure I was 100 percent committed."

All four are generally well regarded but none has statewide name recognition. Thus, the money each raises is expected to play a large role in promoting their candidacies. It will take up to $1 million or more to win the attorney general's post, say people familiar with the race.

The two GOP candidates trailing Lord said they expected to be competitive soon.

A Bolchoz spokesman said he has not been raising money as long as Lord. Wilson said he had recently taken several weeks off when his wife, Jennifer, had a baby girl in December.

Finances are only part of the picture. Each candidate has other assets.

Lord has headed one of the state's largest law firms, Nexsen Pruet, helped bring Boeing to the state, and is connected by family and friends to some of South Carolina's most well-to-do and prominent families.

Wilson, a National Guard major who did a year's tour of duty in Iraq, can be expected to tap into his father's 2nd Congressional District political network.

Bolchoz, who worked for the late Gov. Carroll Campbell, was chief deputy attorney general under Charlie Condon.

Pascoe, with more than 15 years as assistant prosecutor and now solicitor for Calhoun, Dorchester and Orangeburg counties, has the most hands-on prosecutorial experience of all the candidates.

The state attorney general represents the state on a wide variety of criminal and civil matters. He can file and participate in class-action lawsuits, handles death penalty appeals and oversees the state grand jury. The attorney general is paid $92,000 a year and serves a four-year term.

Incumbent Henry McMaster is running for governor.