Wednesday, May 26, 2004

Ballard campaigns for district attorney Local attorney Scott Ballard recently announced he will seek election as District Attorney of the Griffin Judicial Circuit, which includes Fayette, Spalding, Pike and Upson counties. The announcement pits Ballard, 44, against incumbent District Attorney Bill McBroom. Ballard has practiced law in the Griffin Judicial Circuit for more than 19 years. “When I started, the prosecutors had earned an aura of invincibility and all were outstanding trial lawyers,” Ballard said. “They were confident negotiators who recognized which cases to dismiss or plead and which to try. When they announced, ‘Ready for trial,” they meant it, and citizens of the circuit deserve no less today.” Ballard said he wants to hire “the most skilled trial attorneys that I can persuade to join me in accepting the call to public service as prosecutors.” He also wants to personally prosecute “as many trials in Superior Court as any assistant district attorney” and implement a system “so cases are analyzed and prepared as soon as they are received in the office.” Ballard, a Fayette native, graduated from Fayette County High School in 1977. He got his undergraduate degree from the University of Georgia and his law degree from Florida State University. Ballard is an active member of Inman United Methodist Church where he serves as a lay leader and a Sunday school teacher. He also previously served as president of the Fayette County and Griffin Circuit bar associations and as a board member for the Early Years School, now known as the Joseph Sams School, a school for special needs children. Ballard and his wife of 21 years, Joy, have three children. He is the son of Fayette County attorney Charles Ballard and the grandson of a former Fayette County sheriff, the late William Ballard.