Among the races on next year’s local ballot expected to generate some heat is that for district attorney general, the position held by Republican incumbent Amy Weirich since 2011 via appointment and successfully defended by Weirich in the 2012 and 2014 election seasons.
Other candidates may yet file for the position, but at this point the race is shaping up as one between Weirich and announced Democratic challenger Linda Nettles Harris, a veteran of both prosecutorial and legal-defense ranks.
At a generously attended fundraiser on South Front Street last week, Harris offered a preview of her campaign, promising to work “the road less traveled” and to heed “the voices of people who have felt that they have been neglected by the criminal justice system … people who have felt marginalized, who have felt ostracized, who have been left out.”
Referring to herself as a “statistical-driven person,” Harris said, “FBI statistics show that crime has gone up and prisons have been built, but crime has steadily increased.”
Harris laid special emphasis on a pledge to maintain “integrity” in the office if elected. “And what does integrity look like? Honestly, it looks like disclosing evidence when it is helpful to people and when it is not. It looks like following the guidelines of the American Bar Association that teaches you how to be ethical prosecutors.”
That would appear to be an indirect allusion to a recommendation by the state Board of Professional Responsibility that Weirich be censured for appearing to withhold potentially exculpatory evidence while prosecuting a murder case. The charges against Weirich were later dismissed.
• The DA’s race will be on the ballot along with a lengthy list of state judicial races that, like it, will be subject to eight-year terms for the winner. Some measure of just how extensive the list of contested races might be was indicated by the turnout last week at a happy-hour affair for Democrats at the Mellow Mushroom pizzeria on Park. Several attendees at the event professed interest in races for General Sessions positions without specifying particular seats.
Linda Harris
• Jerri Green, who ran a tight race last year as a Democrat for the District 97 state House race won by Republican Mark White, has been hired by Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris as a policy adviser.