LOOK TO STEWART AS MODEL FOR NEXT SLED CHIEF
The State Newspaper (Columbia, SC) – December 2, 2007
IN A STATE WHERE sheriffs are elected on partisan ballots and routinely involve themselves in party politics, where both the Highway Patrol and the rotating agencies that oversee it have been known for their own hardball politics and marred by spectacular political scandals, where even the FBI has not always been above taking advantage of the perks of our back-scratching culture of favoritism, the State Law Enforcement Division has stood as a beacon of integrity.

For the last 20 years — an eternity in politics, spanning four vastly different governors — Robert Stewart has been both the source of and the personification of that integrity. The dedicated, by-the-book law enforcement officer. The skilled agency director who kept himself and his agency politically independent as he scrupulously steered clear of any hint of favoritism. The honest, unassuming, confidence-inspiring public servant who never looked the other way, no matter how easy that might have been to do, or how much easier that might have made his life. Chief Stewart started his law enforcement career at age 17 as a cadet with the Cheraw Police Department in his hometown. He joined SLED in 1975 and has led the state’s top law enforcement agency since the death of longtime Chief J.P. Strom in 1988. He has coordinated major public corruption and drug investigations with the federal government, taken down video poker barons and the Klan, made the tough calls when his own officers went astray and demonstrated, more times than we’d like for there to have been a need, that South Carolina is not a place where the state police look the other way when powerful politicians are implicated in criminal wrongdoing. For two decades, we could not have asked for a better law enforcement leader for our state. Our only wish is that he had remained at the helm even longer. But while 9/11 convinced him to rescind an earlier announced resignation, we have no such hopes this time; Friday was his last day on the job.

Now to Gov. Mark Sanford falls the unenviable task of choosing a replacement. It may well be the most important appointment he makes. The SLED chief is not a Cabinet member whom a governor can dismiss at a whim. He serves for 10 years, which means it’s possible that a single term could span four governors. Mr. Sanford might keep that thought at the forefront of his considerations when seeking a replacement: The next SLED chief should be someone whom the next three governors, regardless of party or philosophy, would feel equally comfortable appointing. It might not be essential that the chief be a career SLED employee, but whoever leads the agency needs to be a consummate professional, a skilled police officer with extensive experience both on the front lines and as a manager. And the next chief needs to be someone who inspires confidence in prosecutors and police, in politicians and ordinary citizens, regardless of their race or gender or political affiliations. In short, that person needs to be very much like Robert Stewart.

Edition: FINAL
Section: EDITORIAL
Page: A24
Copyright (c) 2007 The State