Candidate for South Carolina Lt. Gov. belittles combat service
Posted by editor-at-large on 13 April 2010 at 6:14 pm UTC
By W. Thomas Smith Jr.
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Larry Richter, a former judge and S.C. state senator now running for Lt. Gov., may have shot himself in the foot, though he was aiming – literally – for his opponent, U.S. Army Res. Lt. Col. Bill Connor.
At a meeting of the West Metro Republican Women in Lexington, Monday evening, Richter suggested his life-and-death decisions sending five people to the electric chair were “deliberate,” as opposed to a combat-commander’s decision-making which he (Richter ) said is only “abstract,” “reflexive,” and “reactionary” – a clear mocking of Connor’s combat experience in Afghanistan, and frankly a belittling and a gross misunderstanding of combat leadership.
Worse, Richter – who has never served in the military – held up his hands as if holding and pointing a weapon.
Richter’s mockery of military service – keep in mind, he was draft age during the Vietnam War but somehow managed to stay out of it – continued. “When I finished my judicial service, I went to the South Carolina senate. And that was an enlightenment. Let me just tell you in the friendliest possible way, Bill,” Richter said (while laughing). “If you think you can give those 46 egos an order and they’re gonna march, it ain’t happening.”
As of mid-day, Tuesday, the Richter comments were on YouTube and making the rounds among veterans.
“Such comments from a non-combat person are infuriating and a slam in the face,” says Terry Simmons of Enoree, S.C., a decorated veteran of the Battle of Hamburger Hill, Vietnam.
Columbia Star business editor John Temple Ligon, a former Army Ranger officer and also-decorated artillery forward observer during the Vietnam War, says, “For a person who knows absolutely nothing about combat – particularly combat leadership and decision-making – to make such statements is unconscionable.”
Connor, however, says he “forgives” Richter. “I know Larry just doesn’t understand the environment of combat decision-making,” he says.
Apparently controversy is not new to Richter.
A recent article in THE STATE newspaper (Breaking down the state’s top political fights, Apr. 4) lists six candidates running for the office of Lt. Governor: “Ashley Cooper is a Charleston Democrat; Florence’s Ken Ard, Greenville’s Krista Cogdill [who has since withdrawn], Orangeburg’s Bill Connor, and Charleston’s Larry Richter and Eleanor Kitzman all are Republicans. Ard is a Florence County councilman and Richter, a former judge, has run for office before. But the rest of the field is largely new to seeking elective office.”
But, the article adds, Richter “comes with baggage.”
– Visit W. Thomas Smith Jr. at uswriter.com.
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