Meet the Houston County District Attorney candidates – Arthur Creque

Arthur Creque is asking the citizens of Houston County for their vote in electing him as the new Houston County District Attorney.

Creque qualified in March as the Republican candidate. He will face Republican incumbent George Hartwig in the upcoming 2020 General Primary Elections, Nonpartisan General Election, and Special Elections in May. Should he win the primary, Creque will then face Democratic candidate Erikka Williams in the General Election in November.

Creque moved to Warner Robins when he was 10 years old, when his dad retired from the United States Air Force. He graduated from Northside High School in 1984, Mercer University in 1988 with his bachelor’s degree and in 1991, he graduated from the Mercer University Law School. While attending law school, he was the law clerk for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Macon. Creque’s first job after graduating law school was the law clerk at the Houston County Superior Courthouse, working for Judge Buster McConnell and Judge George Nunn.

Creque then went on to work for several local law firms including working as an assistant public defender and a sole prosecutor. In 1998 he was hired on as an assistant solicitor general in the State Court of Houston County, and by the next year (1999) became the Chief Assistant Solicitor General.

“In the last 20 years I have worked in that capacity (Chief Assistant Solicitor General), serving the people of Houston County,” Creque said. “I have lived here the majority of my life, my roots are here, I married here, and had children here,” Creque said. “I know what makes Houston County a special place to live, and over the years, I know what’s going on as far as the legal community and what’s happening inside county crimes, victims, etc. Over the years you just keep hearing the same complaints about lack of communication between the DA’s office and the law enforcement agencies. You also hear from victims about their case and how it’s either dismissed or plea-bargained. These things are common and frustrating.”

Creque said one of the last straws for him to decide if he wanted to run for Houston County District Attorney again, was when he learned of a certain case from 2014. In 2018, it was dismissed because the statue of limitations had run out.

“It really shouldn’t happen, but they are common in this county,” Creque said. “Quite frankly, you just get tired of hearing the stories, seeing what’s happening to the victims, lack of communication and the lack of basic leadership coming out of the DA’s office.

“The other issue is how Mr. Hartwig runs his office. I don’t particularly care for it. I think that really from my understanding he just sits in his office. And, what an individual does in their private life is up to them, and what happens in their private life, for the most part, is private. When you are a public official, you are held up to a higher standard about how you should [carry] yourself, and how you should act in your office. Mr. Hartwig lives with his secretary; I find that to be an inappropriate thing to do. The relationship between a boss and a subordinate, such relationship is not becoming of a district attorney.”

Creque referenced the case of Paulding County Judicial Circuit District Attorney Dick Donovan, who was under investigation for allegations that he sexually harassed a senior staff member for more than a year. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Jamie White, Paulding County’s victim-witness coordinator, said in a complaint that Donovan repeatedly bought her gifts, kissed her, told her he loved her and said he wanted to have sex. White sued Donovan, but it resulted in a settlement of $300,000, of which $25,000 was paid from Paulding County, and the remaining $275,000 was paid by the state.

“My other issue is the backlog in his (Hartwig’s) office,” Creque said. “He has over 1,500 cases that have been indicted waiting for trial, dating back to 2017. “At some point you say to yourself, how long do you have to wait before a case is indicted, or tried? These issues did not really exist so much prior to him becoming the DA in 2010. These have grown with him, and quite frankly, it’s time for a change. I want to bring back the values that all of Houston County support our law enforcement, and open the lines of communication. You can’t have successful prosecution of a case without talking to the officers and talking to the victims more.

“Georgia law has this thing called Georgia Crime Victims Bill of Rights,” he went on to say. “One of those rights is to be heard at any scheduled court proceeding, it is a great deal of more rights. We have to, as society and DA, understand these rights, and give it to them. All that needs to be changed, and quite frankly, when you talk about these things, these are easy. [With] any real leadership, these issues wouldn’t exist. My commitment to the citizens of Houston County is clear: tirelessly support our law enforcement, support our victims, and bring justice and accountability to the criminal justice system. Together let’s make Houston County an even greater place to live, work, and raise our children.”

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