Charles Graddick’s first priority will be to make justice swift. He also plans to use funds available to help save clerks’ offices throughout the state from continuing with the downsizing seen even right here in St. Clair County.

Addressing the challenging situation of funding in the courts is why he says,

“It’s going to take somebody who doesn’t need on-the-job training. It’s going to take somebody who has had he training to run and operate a fairly large governmental office during similar times. I have done that during two terms as attorney general.”

He said when he first took office as AG in the late 1970s, the situation was similar, but “not as severe as it is today.”

He said taking out waste

“We’ve got to learn how to do more with less because that’s just a fact today. We have been told hat we had to layoff people in our clerk’s offices. But the clerk’s offices in our communities are the heart and soul in our courts system and they’re having to close their doors for part of the day. They’re working on weekends for no additional compensation.”

He said there are funds available to shore up the problems in the clerk’s office.

“I don’t think that the economy is going to get better anytime soon, but I do believe that wit the right kind of leadership and the right kind of attitude and ability to make the tough decisions without regard to weather or not you’re going to step on a toe or two and I can do that and I’ve done it before.”

Graddick, was just 28 when he was elected as the youngest District attorney in Alabama in 1974.

Serving as Presiding Circuit Court Judge of the second largest judicial circuit since 2004, Graddick said he is the most experienced candidate for Chief Justice.

A former Mobile County District Attorney and two-term State Attorney General, Graddick authored Alabama’s first Habitual Offenders Law, which increased sentences for repeat violent offenders and reduced the crime rate in Alabama.

As AG he wrote the state’s first Habitual Offenders Law, which increased sentences for repeat violent offenders and reduced the crime rate in Alabama.

He said he was the first prosecutor in Alabama to fight for the rights of crime victims and their families by establishing the Victims Assistance Office.

“I know that I’m qualified, I can step right in and get the job done by bringing in the best and brightest for not too much money and right the ship.”

Speaking of a likelihood of a runoff of himself and former chief justice Roy Moore, Graddick said, “Judge Moore’s had his time. He was removed from the bench by the judicial ethics folks for not complying with a court order. He’s had his opportunity and now it’s mine. I can tell the people of Alabama that I will not embarrass them and I will uphold the constitution and the laws of this state as they are written. And I will uphold the law and any orders that I might be subject to.”