Challenger J. William W. Harsch, left, and Attorney General Patrick J. Lynch had several heated exchanges yesterday during a debate on The Dan Yorke Show on WPRO radio.

The Providence Journal / Glenn Osmundson

The Republican candidate for attorney general said yesterday that, if elected, he would pursue charges against half a dozen or more West Warwick officials in connection with The Station nightclub fire.

J. William W. Harsch said Democratic Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch failed to charge all the people responsible for the 2003 fire that killed 100 people and injured more than 200 others. Harsch said he would pursue charges against the town’s fire marshal and building inspector, among others. He rejected the idea that they have immunity from prosecution because they were acting in the line of duty.

“I don’t think it’s within your official duties to let firetraps like The Station off the hook,” Harsch said during a news conference outside the Kent County Courthouse.

Lynch responded later in the day and blasted Harsch.

“This man wants to become the attorney general and without a scintilla of evidence, without any review of any of the documents, he stands out on the street and lists six people he is going to indict,” Lynch said during a debate on The Dan Yorke Show on WPRO [630-AM] radio. “I frankly think that is shameful.”

Lynch said West Warwick officials would have been prosecuted if there had been evidence of bad faith, gross negligence or malice, as the law requires.

“I know this is, obviously and understandably, a question not only just for the poor families that have lost loved ones and the survivors but, I think; many people in the state. I struggle with it,” Lynch said. “And if we had evidence, I certainly would have indicted them. But there wasn’t evidence of it.”

Lynch’s office did prosecute Daniel M. Biechele, the tour manager for rock band Great White, whose fireworks started the blaze, and the brothers who owned the club, Michael A. and Jeffrey A. Derderian. Each of them entered pleas to 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter. Biechele and Michael Derderian were sentenced to four years in a minimum-security prison work release program. Jeffrey Derderian was ordered to perform 500 hours of community service.

But Harsch said, “There is very little doubt in my mind that this case can be prosecuted further.”

Harsch said he would pursue charges against the town’s fire marshal, Denis P. Larocque, who failed to force the nightclub owners to remove highly flammable polyurethane that had been glued to the building’s walls as soundproofing.

Harsch said he would go after the building inspector, who allowed the building to be converted from a restaurant to a nightclub without installing sprinklers. He said he would pursue charges against the police detail officer who did not enforce crowd limits the night of the fire. And he said he would charge those men’s supervisors.

Additionally, Harsch would charge Triton Realty, the corporation that owned the building and leased it to the Derderians, and members of the Town Council and other municipal officials who, he said, knew the building was a firetrap where fireworks were routinely used illegally.

Lynch has said he did not charge Larocque or other town officials because state law grants them immunity, except under certain circumstances. But Harsch said that one of those exceptions — gross negligence — applies in this case.

Harsch said he would also file a civil-rights lawsuit in federal court and ask the U.S. Attorney to pursue criminal civil-rights charges against the West Warwick officials and, possibly, the Derderians.

“You had an obvious deprivation of civil rights with very serious consequences,” Harsch said.

ON WPRO, Harsch said he wasn’t surprised that Lynch was responding by calling him irresponsible.

“I think that this is the kind of a situation we run into in a vigorous campaign debate,” he said. “Campaign debates are not all that unlike football.”

Lynch cut in, saying, “I am not involved in that kind of a debate where you go out on the street, you pick people out with no basis, label them to make political points.” He said, “To do that on a city street 18 days before the election is horrible.”

Harsch said, “I think what he has done in the office of attorney general is irresponsible and horrible. And I think what he has done in the office of attorney general in terms of protecting the fire officials is a good example of irresponsible and horrible.”

Harsch said Lynch’s interpretation of the facts and the law is intended “to protect the political establishment in the town of West Warwick.” He said, “In a town the size of West Warwick, which is a small town with a very heavy Democratic political component, there is no question that knowledge of this situation would be common knowledge.”

Lynch said Harsch’s own comments undercut his plan to prosecute the local officials. He said the officials wrote reports noting, for example, the nightclub’s exit lights, occupancy limits and the inward swinging door.

“What the evidence does show, and this has been disclosed publicly, is they did their job. Maybe not entirely. Nothing in my comments should be interpreted as a congratulatory note or a pat on the back for the fire marshals,” Lynch said. “But laziness and stupidity doesn’t mean bad faith, malice or gross negligence. It doesn’t mean you can charge them.”

Lynch said, “That doesn’t mean they should be removed from civil culpability. That doesn’t mean Larocque should even be working today. And he certainly shouldn’t have got a promotion. But that’s not in my jurisdiction.”

THE HOUR-AND-A-HALF debate produced several barbed exchanges and one vulgarity from Harsch.

At one point, Lynch criticized Harsch, saying, “I know he has no experience as a criminal prosecutor. And that’s troubling when ...”

“Let’s stop that right now,” Harsch said. “Because I am prosecutor for the towns of Tiverton and Jamestown. I ran two police forces when I was head of DEM [the Department of Environmental Management]. Stop the commercial. And stop the [expletive].”

Lynch said, “I just want to clarify because I know my kids were standing in the rain when I came in and they might be listening. Kelsey and Graham, that wasn’t me.”