COASTAL OBSERVER

Stephen Goldfinch is the only declared candidate to replace Alan Wilson as South Carolina’s attorney general, so he is running against the government.

“As attorney general, I will get between the citizenry, the people out there and the bureaucrats,” Goldfinch told supporters last week. “I’m going to get in the way.”

The Murrells Inlet Republican who was elected to a third term in the state Senate in November, made his formal announcement to a packed room at Inlet Affairs, the same place he began his political career 14 years ago with a race for House District 108.

Goldfinch wants to become the first candidate from Georgetown or Horry counties to win election to statewide office.

“It’s never happened in the history of South Carolina,” he said.

In 2014, another Murrells Inlet attorney, Parnell Diggs, won the Democratic nomination for attorney general. He lost to Wilson by over 20 percentage points.

Wilson announced last month that he will will run for governor next year rather than seek re-election.

As he made his way around the state this week, Goldfinch said he was focusing on his experience as a lawyer in private practice and as an officer in the National Guard’s judge advocate general’s corps.

“As a JAG officer, I’ve prosecuted hundreds of cases,” he said.

His law practice, “is focused on suing the government,” he told supporters. “That’s what I do. I sue the government because they don’t look out for you.”

Goldfinch was a biochemistry major at The Citadel when he started a company to harvest umbilical stem cells for research. He and a partner created another biotech company after graduation.

“From Day 1, I recognized the government, it’s not a stepping stone, it’s not a building block, it’s not a helper, but a hindrance to entrepreneurism, a hindrance to growth, a hindrance to economy, a hindrance to wealth,” he said.

He enrolled at the Charleston School of Law with the goal of serving as corporate counsel, but sold the company before earning his degree. He decided to practice law anyway.

“My very first case was right here in Murrells Inlet,” Goldfinch said, representing someone who was ordered by state regulators to stop work on a dock.

Soon afterward, Kevin Ryan decided not to seek a second term in House District 108. Goldfinch was unopposed in the GOP primary and his Democratic opponent, Jarrod Ownbey, was ruled ineligible along with scores of candidates around the state.

After two terms, he ran for the Senate District 34 seat when Ray Cleary decided not to seek re-election.

During his time in the legislature, Goldfinch said he has built connections in the counties that have the biggest role in the party primary. While he lives in Murrells Inlet, he grew up in Conway and “Horry’s home turf for me,” he said.

“I’ve got relationships all the way to the governor’s office,” Goldfinch said. “Nobody’s got that depth and breadth of experience.”

Talk among Goldfinch supporters was about a possible run by Henry McMaster Jr., the governor’s son, which could bring an endorsement from President Trump.

Goldfinch has a little over $200,000 in his Senate campaign account. He expects the attorney general’s race will require about $1.5 million.