It’s no tiara, but the hot pink flamingo hat slated to flop atop the head of Orangeburg County Attorney D’Anne Haydel is just one of the accoutrements signaling the two year-long reign of the local legal official as the supreme sultan, exalted leader, grand pooh bah, and highest muckety muck of all the county attorneys in the state.

Haydel was so anointed during the annual August conference of the South Carolina Association of Counties in Hilton Head. And although she missed the session because of a close friend’s sudden death; and – although the highly prized ceremonial flamingo hat has mysteriously “gone missing,” as television crime pundits like to report – all the prestige and glory that goes with the esteemed position are hers.

Outgoing president Alexander “Sandy” Cruickshanks IV of Laurens County said “some organizations pass the gavel; but we pass the bird,” Haydel jokes.

Well, not quite. It seems that, somehow, the errant bird has disappeared between the Hilton Head conference site and Cruickshanks’ home or office.

The AWOL flamingo aside, Haydel will preside over quarterly luncheon meetings in Columbia to “discuss the issues of the day” and organize the annual continuing legal education sessions. That, of course, is in addition to her regular assignment of providing appropriate gag gifts for the participants, such as the lawyer shark or the flying pig. That’s right up her alley.

The favorite is her own stuffed parrot that can be programmed to repeat spoken phrases several times over. Among other things, she laughs, “I programmed him to say, ‘Sandy, you’re the smartest lawyer I know.’”

There’s also the eight ball or the Karma dice she enjoys presenting to new county attorneys as a guide to help them make the tough decisions.

“Every year we have someone new to the (group). All of them are very nervous. They act confident, but when they talk, they’re very nervous,” Haydel said. “There’s no training ground for county attorneys. ... Joanie Winters of Chester County is the newest one, and we will share the secrets. ... The special magic eight ball is the secret only county attorneys know, and she will.”

Then there are an assortment of bumper stickers, like her favorite: “What if the hokey pokey is what it’s all about?”

“We had a county attorney, whose name will not be revealed, and someone in his county with the tax assessor’s office asked him about a procedure that other tax assessors use.

“It’s nitwits like that who keep county attorneys in business,” he e-mailed statewide. So, naturally, Haydel responded with a county attorney sign and several “nitwit” signs on either side of the panel he was chairing.

“That’s pretty much the tenor of the group. We deal with subjects very seriously, but we have to laugh,” she said. “There are many serious subjects we do deal with, but we do like to have fun.”

It’s certainly not all revelry and highjinks, as Haydel will be the first to attest. As the close-knit organization has evolved, she explains, active members have carved out their own niches of expertise they readily share among all 46 county attorneys. It’s invaluable networking that she compares to a full-service law firm, except that the expertise and the friendly comradery are only an e-mail away.

The new Chester County attorney is a good example, Haydel says.

“She’s a brand new county attorney, and there was an emergency – some industry caught on fire and burned for several days. What can the county do to declare an emergency or do you call the governor? But the Aiken County attorney (Robert Bell) knew what to do because he’d just gone through it with Graniteville (where a derailed train had a deadly gas leak). He gave her the forms and the background information she needed to look at,” Haydel said. “So, in the very moment the emergency happened, she could arm herself with the information from this group that works very closely together.”

Haydel, whose own area of expertise is delinquent taxes, cites plenty of other examples.

“Berkeley County Attorney Mark Stokes used to be a master-in-equity. So he knows what counties have to do in administering and proceeding with code violations,” she said. “Mark Tollison, the Greenville County attorney, is one of the people who wrote the land-use statutes for the state, and we rely heavily, as a group, on him if there’s any question about land use. ... Marvin Jones of Jasper County has vast experience in defending counties in civil rights complaints, for example, overcrowding in a jail. Chuck Watson is the Greenwood County attorney, and he and Johnathan Bryan of Sumter are our dirt lawyers. ... Tom Martin, the Anderson County attorney, knows all things about economic development. ... J.D. Mosteller of Barnwell County, he thinks outside the box like no one you would believe.”

Then there’s the deputy Richland County attorney the association refers to as “The Bradley,” the name of the military tank used on the front line in the liberation of Iraq, Haydel says. “He’s extremely quiet, but when you have a question, he’ll send you a legal memo he pulls from his files,” she said.

There are very tricky legal questions, Haydel says, and, as county attorney, it’s important to get it right.

In the eight years she’s been county attorney, Haydel says, she has had to deal with the issue of an unidentified, unclaimed body on two occasions. “Believe it or not, a county attorney does know that – Donnie McDonald of Marlboro County. Michael Jordan’s father was unidentified in Marlboro County, and they took care of that,” she said. “

Her point, Haydel notes, is that information provided by other county attorneys is often a starting point for further review.

Orangeburg County’s recent controversy over a moratorium on large poultry operations (rendered moot by the state Legislature) and the 1-cent capital sales tax are cases in point.

“The issue of county chicken house regulations that were stricter than state ones was already at the appellate level from Greenwood County,” Haydel said. “Every single issue we faced had been briefed.”

As for the penny tax, Haydel notes that York County, served by County Attorney Melvin McKeown Jr., was the first in the state to pass it, followed by Orangeburg County.

“We had to get U.S. Justice Department approval and jump through a lots of hoops,” she said. “He guided me through it; and I, in turn, guided Beaufort County through it.”

Not only has the association shortened work time, it’s also been a proven money-saver.

By sharing information on a regional bond issuance for Atlantic Housing (purchaser of Roosevelt Apartments) with Lexington and Charleston counties, Haydel says, Orangeburg County was able to avoid losing $177,000 a year in property taxes.

Bamberg County Attorney Richard Ness and law partner Norma Jett don’t regularly participate in the list-server e-mail, Haydel says, “but ... Richard used to work for the state highway commission, and he does condemnation work for the South Carolina Department of Transportation. Norma does election work. So, when we have an election question, we ask her. When I did the condemnation for the Holly Hill water project, there was very little court authority, so I called Richard, and he and Norma met with me.”

In this job, Haydel emphasizes, it’s very important “to have it right, or it’s a bad repercussion for everyone in the county. So I do want to check with everyone else. This is a wonderful resource.”

Now, where was that rubber chicken?

-- T&D Government Writer Tucker Lyon can be reached at tlyon@timesanddemocrat.com or by calling 803-533-5545.

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