(Macon, GA – Nov. 23, 2009)  While celebrating his 50th birthday among family and friends this past Sunday, Max Wood – the former United States Attorney and a Republican candidate for state Attorney General – announced his top three initiatives that indicate where he would place his priorities if elected to the highest law enforcement office in Georgia.

Wood says these initiatives represent the beginning of a well conceived campaign platform of critical, high priority issues in law enforcement and public safety to protect the integrity of the judicial system and the quality of life for Georgians. 

These initial points of emphasis of his campaign have been garnered from his more than two decades of experience as a lead prosecutor, chief litigator, and private legal counselor, while working on a variety of cases on the local, state, and federal level, he adds.  In addition, Wood says these issues also reflect the feedback he has received from law enforcement officials he has worked with and respected over the past 25 years, as well as the concerns of citizens he has met while campaigning the past few months across the state.

“My experience as a prosecutor and public servant opened my eyes to some of the areas where I think we can improve law enforcement and public safety in Georgia, while enhancing state resources or utilizing them more efficiently,” says Wood.  “But receiving feedback from fellow citizens all across our state has both reinforced my initial ideas as well as provided me with these most important perspectives of how such policies might positively impact the everyday lives of Georgia families.”

Wood’s first priority if elected as state Attorney General would be the pursuit of a Solicitor General Initiative.  While over 30 other U.S. states have established a Solicitor General position within their respective state governments, the Georgia Department of Law does not have such a post currently. 

Modeled on the role such an officer provides within the United States Department of Justice, where Wood served the previous eight years as U.S. Attorney for Georgia’s Middle District, a Solicitor General is designated by the Attorney General to make all final decisions on appellate matters.  At present, the Georgia Department of Law bases decisions on appellate issues by a variety of people involved with a particular case, with attention focused solely on the case at hand.  A designated Solicitor General and his/her staff within the state Attorney General’s office would instead bring a nationwide constitutional law perspective to appellate decisions in each and every case.

Wood notes that in recent decades, activist judges – particularly those in the federal courts – have eviscerated significant States’ rights preserved by the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.  Federalism itself is being threatened by an ever encroaching federal government, adds Wood. In order to counter this trend, individual state Attorney General offices across the country have been developing this Solicitor General approach to appellate advocacy closely patterned after the U.S. Department of Justice model. 

“A Solicitor General and his/her staff would be dedicated to bringing the best in constitutional scholarship and appellate advocacy to every case appealed by the State of Georgia,” notes Wood.
In addition, this approach to Appellate advocacy through the creation of a Solicitor General’s position allows Georgia to have input on Constitutional issues that impact Georgia’s rights in federal courts all across the United States, through the filing of “Friend of the Court” briefs that allow the state of Georgia to have input on Constitutional Questions affecting states being litigated in other states.
The second point of emphasis in Wood’s state Attorney General campaign platform would be to study the feasibility of opening Satellite Offices in other cities in Georgia.  Georgia currently spends significant dollars in hiring private law firms to represent Georgia’s interests in courts outside of metro Atlanta, notes Wood. 

“As Attorney General, I would initiate a study of the cost effectiveness of this system versus establishing and staffing Satellite Offices in cities outside of Metro Atlanta,” he says.

Finally, Wood’s third initiative to pursue as Attorney General would be to support legislation that would establish a Statewide Grand Jury in Georgia.

“Georgia needs a statewide Grand Jury,” says Wood.  “There are several areas of our state where the administration of justice is hampered by local dynamics.”

In some instances, Wood says appropriate cases can be referred to the federal system.  However, he notes that many cases cannot, and Georgia needs to provide its citizens a third avenue for potential prosecution in these cases. 

“The inability to effectively administer justice in some areas of our state has a negative impact on economic prosperity to those areas,” he adds.  “This in effect impedes the economic progress of the state as a whole.”