Commonwealth’s Attorney John Mahoney took charge of his new office at Bowling Green’s courthouse complex this month. (CP photo by Jessica Crombie)
“I’m happy I decided to take on the challenge”
When John Mahoney decided to run for Commonwealth’s Attorney, early last year, he thought he would have to run against a veteran incumbent, Tony Spencer.
Spencer abruptly dropped out of the race shortly before the filing deadline in June and then, just as abruptly staged a last-ditch write-in campaign in October. At the polls in November, Mahoney won by a comfortable margin.
Now Mahoney is settling into the job.
“The [existing] staff has all been rehired. While there is much that needs to be changed and much that needs to be improved, these are the responsibility of the leader,” Mahoney said.
As a 19-year Marine Corps veteran who entered the military as an enlisted man, left as a major, earned a law degree on the G.I. Bill and pursued a second career as a lawyer, Mahoney is no stranger to new situations and the need for reorganization.
In the months between his election to the C.A. job and being sworn in just before Christmas, he has worked on making the transition from being a successful criminal defense lawyer to the county’s chief prosecutor by taking training seminars in Richmond and Roanoke and assessing the needs of his new office in Bowling Green’s courthouse complex, not far from his new home just outside the town.
Though undaunted by the challenge, Mahoney said he quickly realized the task may be more difficult than he assumed when he announced his candidacy last spring.
“One of the things I discovered was that I was appalled by the personnel staffing. I had heard for years how the Caroline County Commonwealth Attorney’s Office was understaffed.”
Getting approval for additional staff goes through a process involving authorization by the state Compensation Board, an appropriation by the state legislature and a formal request by the Commonwealth’s Attorney, Mahoney explained.
“I was told Caroline was unsuccessful in getting additional staff. But the chart I was shown shows zero requests,” Mahoney said. To make matters worse, the county may have missed the boat this time around, he added.
It is not a problem with existing employees, as with how many of them there are, Mahoney emphasized.
“They were struggling along, putting out fires. None of the problems were due to them,” Mahoney made clear.
Mahoney said he inherited quite a bit of work from his predecessor, who spent part of the summer prosecuting a high-profile murder case in another jurisdiction.
“There appears to be a backlog of cases. For the last several months, the office has ended up with one-and-a-half attorneys when there should be four,” he said.
“What hurts is that when you go into court to do a docket, it takes a lot of preparation. The better prepared cases are, the quicker it should go,” Mahoney said. “That’s a concern to others as well. When we subpoena witnesses who have to take off work, maybe we will need a half day not a whole day, if there is proper preparation.”
Whereas his predecessor had a contentious relationship with the Caroline County Sheriff’s Office for a number of years, Mahoney said he hopes things will go much smoother under his leadership.
“Even as a defense attorney, I had a good relationship with the Sheriff’s Office. As a candidate for Commonwealth’s Attorney, I felt supported by them. The county suffers when the Sheriff and Commonwealth’s Attorney can’t work together.
“I’ve known Tony Lippa for about 16 years, now. I saw him work well with [other] Commonwealth’s Attorneys without issues and I look forward to that.
“It doesn’t mean we won’t have disagreements on some things. But, even simple administrative things are impossible with the toxic relationship that existed. Even the rank and file [in law enforcement] didn’t like how they were treated by the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office,” Mahoney said.
Despite the magnitude of the task ahead, Mahoney said he looked forward to taking over Jan. 1.
“I’m excited. There are good people in the office. Caroline County has been a very welcoming place. I’m happy I decided to take on this challenge.”
By Greg Glassner
CP Contributing Editor
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