ST. TAMMANY PARISH, La. — On the Northshore, the race for district attorney is heating up. The seat has been vacant since Warren Montgomery passed away last fall after a long battle with cancer.
In less than two weeks, we will know who Montgomery's successor will be.
Attorney Vincent Wynne said he was a prosecutor for almost 10 years before establishing his private practice, which handles both civil and criminal cases.
Wynne said he didn't understand why he was getting 'beat up' on the campaign trail for being a defense attorney.
“I think that’s the difference. I’m not just a career prosecutor. I’m also a business owner. I’ve been a business owner in this community for 26 years," Wynne said.
Collin Sims stepped in as interim DA following Montgomery's death.
“For the last 18 years he’s been being a defense attorney," Sims said, “He’s a pure politician. I’m a professional prosecutor.”
The two candidates have been going back and forth at debates and in attack ads.
Wynne said his top priorities if elected are increasing access to the DA's Office for Washinton Parish residents and improving the office's efficiency in trying cases and reviewing the budget.
Sims said he's focused on sex crimes and child exploitation cases, as well as enhancing the existing fentanyl initiatives and specialty court programs to prevent recidivism.
Endorsements for Sims are stacking up from the Covington, Slidell, Mandeville and Madisonville police chiefs. Meanwhile, Sheriff Randy Smith has expressed support for Wynne.
The candidates have also accused each other of connections to former DA Walter Reed, who was convicted of public corruption charges.
Wynne said he left his position under Reed 10 years before Reed was indicted.
“Collin Sims has retained the folks that worked with Walter Reed. The top five prosecutors in that office still work for Collin. So, if I’m corrupt, then Collin’s corrupt," Wynne said.
Sims said the prosecutors Wynne speaks of are experienced litigators.
“There’s always people who get the job done in an office and then people who are political hires. Mr. Wynne was a political hire. He worked in the misdemeanors dept. and he got to have a private practice on the side. The people stayed with us, they didn’t have private practices on the side and they actually tried cases and did actual trial work," Sims said.
The last day to early vote is Saturday, March 16. The election day is Saturday, March 23.
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