Lively makes change center of Midlands solicitor bid

Candice Lively is running for chief prosecutor in Lexington County and nearby areas as a political outsider with an insider’s experience.

Lively, a former assistant prosecutor in the Grand Strand, is making change her main message as she tries to win a match against two challengers who once were aides to retiring Solicitor Donnie Myers.

Her criticisms of the way the four-county 11th Circuit office is run sometimes are subtle. But they signify a new style that could set her apart from the other Republicans vying to take charge of criminal convictions in the Lexington County-based circuit. No Democrats have filed in the June 14 primary races.

“It’s really such a closed-off environment,” she said of decisions that sometimes came without much notice and public explanation during Myers’ lengthy tenure. “The circuit has not been running effectively for years.”

Law enforcement leaders today must reach out in advance before making decisions instead of relying mainly on community trust and professional relationships with lawyers and police, she said.

“You have to involve everyone in the community in order to make that office successful,” Lively said. “That’s one of the things our circuit has been very lacking in.”

Lively’s ideas promise “a fresh approach,” anti-drunken driving advocate David Longstreet of Lexington said. “She’s up to date.”

One change Lively wants is a better website. “That’s showing you’re developing your office to meet the needs of the community,” she said.

She also promises a concerted attempt to reduce a backlog of unsettled criminal charges – 4,800 in Lexington County alone – that Sheriff Jay Koon says contributes to overcrowding at the jail he oversees.

Reducing that number means more often using alternate methods, such as trials designed to give minor narcotics offenders a chance at court-supervised rehabilitation, she said.

Back to her roots

Most of Lively’s 20-year legal career was spent in the Myrtle Beach area before the West Columbia native returned to the Midlands 3 1/2 years ago to join the faculty at the University of South Carolina.

Her focus at USC is on training prosecutors and police officers in child abuse investigation. In that role, she spearheaded development of new standards for dealing with children endangered by parents using narcotics.

Now it’s time to get back in the courtroom, she said.

Being a teacher provides insights and contacts that will be beneficial “on the front lines,” Lively said.

Her first challenge in the campaign is re-introducing herself locally.

Born in West Columbia, the 46-year-old Lively left the Midlands for the coast after finishing law school at the University of South Carolina.

Former teachers at Airport High School recall her as industrious, organized and responsible. “She was always willing to do things,” said Lexington 2 School Board member Cay Kessler, who supervised Lively when Lively was a cheerleader.

To some extent, Lively models her campaign after state Sen. Katrina Shealy’s successful door-to-door strategy in 2012.

That’s partly out of necessity, since Lively has raised less money for ads and mailings than her challengers. Most of her contributions so far come from coastal lawyers familiar with her.

Shealy, who is staying neutral in the solicitor’s race, said she advised Lively to “just get out and work hard. In a countywide race, you have a lot more doors to knock on.”

Lively’s status as an outsider could wind up a plus at the polls.

She could benefit from dissatisfaction at Myers that political analysts say is rooted in his latest arrest for drunk driving – his third alcohol-related traffic offense in 11 years.

And she could appeal to the increasing ranks of newcomers with no connection to the players who have long dominated county politics, the analysts say.

The right fit?

After answering questions about ‘Candice Who?,’ Lively’s other major challenge is persuading voters she has the moxie for the job.

Harry Davis, who was Lively’s boss at the children’s law center at USC, says she is adept at reconciling sides often at odds. “She’s very capable in bringing people together to solve problems,” he said.

Her suggestions that Myers’ operation grew “stagnant” rankles a veteran prosecutor regarded as a courtroom legend in the legal profession.

Myers favors longtime aide Rick Hubbard in the contest, saying “the others are not even close to having the trial and managerial experience” needed. The third candidate is Larry Wedekind, who also worked for Myers.

Lively was a top assistant prosecutor on the coast for five years before returning to the Midlands, specializing in crimes against children.

She has the right blend of experience and vision to take charge, according state Sen. Greg Hembree, the Horry County Republican who oversaw her work while he was solicitor there.

“It’s very difficult for an insider to change things,” Hembree said. “Bringing in an outsider can be healthier.”

Most changes that Lively wants are in tone, such as keeping the public better informed of key decisions and urging the Legislature to consider legal changes.

“Solicitors can’t be in an ivory tower,” she said. “We have to be involved in the community.”

No major staff shake-up will happen, she said. “I’m not going to clean house,” she said. “I’m there to make the situation better.”

Although experienced in homicide trials, Lively has never handled one involving capital punishment. But she says the death penalty is appropriate for “heinous” killings.

Key in the 11th Circuit is the looming death penalty trial of Timothy Jones, charged with killing his five children at their Red Bank home in August 2014. It’s the largest mass murder in the Midlands in 50 years.

Lively is up to the challenge given her expertise in complex investigations and trials involving child deaths, Hembree said.

She promises to avoid “inflammatory” characterizations that have caused appellate courts to order new death penalty trials after agreeing that some remarks by Myers influenced juries inappropriately.

“You need to be ultra careful” with such descriptions to prevent reversals, she said.

Away from the office, Lively jogs – with her children often tailing her on bicycles along with the family dog – through a neighborhood overlooking Lake Murray near Chapin.

She knows becoming solicitor likely will mean longer hours that make it harder to prepare home-cooked meals.

But she intends to continue that habit, relying more on her parents to be chefs as happens now when she travels to train officials.

“At our home, we don’t do take-out,” Lively said.

This story was originally published May 22, 2016 at 6:14 PM with the headline "Lively makes change center of Midlands solicitor bid."