They fought for the job in Richmond. Now the juggling.

Joe Bouchard spent a half-million dollars of other people’s money to win his seat in the House of Delegates.

Now the job is going to cost him some of his own cash.

When Bouchard heads to Richmond next month for the General Assembly’s 60-day session, he’ll take a two-month leave of absence from his day job drumming up homeland security business for Zel Technologies in Hampton.

Bouchard, a retired Navy captain and former commander of Norfolk Naval Station, won’t say how much of his salary he’s losing.

He conceded it is more than the roughly $18,000 Virginia pays its citizen legislators for one year of service.

“It’s very much of a pay cut,” said Bouchard, who will represent the 83rd House District in Virginia Beach. “It’s worth it, but it means having a very frugal budget.”

South Hampton Roads is sending three freshman legislators to Richmond, the largest influx of novices since 1992. And when a new Mr. Smith goes to Richmond, it can be tough on one’s professional and

personal lives.

None of them dare complain – after all, the three Democrats raised, then spent, a combined $2.4 million to get to this quandary. But sitting at a desk in the capital for two months means not sitting at the desk that pays their salary the other 10 months.

In terms of financial loss, Bouchard faces the hardest transition; his unpaid leave is costing him one-sixth of his salary.

Ralph Northam, senator-elect in the 6th District, which covers parts of Norfolk and the Eastern Shore, is more fortunate. A pediatric neurologist, he’s one of five partners in an office affiliated with Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters.

His colleagues agreed before he ran that they would assume the slack of his appointments, including covering shifts at a clinic for low-income children on the Shore. Northam will be on call some weekends.

Coincidentally, the medical office was looking to add a neurologist next year, so Northam’s absences will be easier to absorb.

“You could easily become sick for two months and we would cope with it,” said Dr. Svinder Toor, one of Northam’s partners. “We try to look at it that way. … It is for the greater good.”

Bobby Mathieson, a new delegate who will represent Virginia Beach’s 21st House District, also has a comfortable work situation.

He retired as deputy director of the state Department of Criminal Justice Services in January. As Mathieson hunted for work, he told would-be bosses he planned to run for state office.

The security technology company that hired him, Rileen Innovative Technologies Inc., had no problem with that.

“It’s made it very comfortable,” Mathieson said of the transition. “The being away is not a very difficult thing.”

Being home presents challenges, too.

Freshman legislators have to open district offices with their monthly allowance of $1,250. All three Hampton Roads newcomers said that the money has to pay for rent, utilities, even paper clips. (Those in leadership positions get an extra $500 a month, but freshmen don’t get any plums until they’ve served for a while.)

Mathieson was the first of the three to open an office, a “small, cozy” space along Virginia Beach Boulevard. There is no sign planned to announce the space from the street, but there are other amenities.

“Plenty of parking,” Mathieson said.

Northam and Bouchard said they plan to open offices after the Assembly session.

Northam said his will probably end up in a carriage house at his East Beach home in Norfolk. Bouchard half-jokingly said his wife wouldn’t allow the district office at their house near Virginia Beach’s Cypress Point Country Club.

Another challenge is squeezing meetings into the busy routines of people successful enough that they were able to run for public office in the first place.

Bouchard’s system is pretty simple. He’ll meet people early or he’ll meet them late. But the middle of the day is set aside for his day job on the Peninsula.

“If you want to avoid going through the tunnel, let’s do it first thing in the morning,” he said. “That, or 3:30, 4 in the afternoon.”

Northam, who used to see as many as to 20 patients a day, now handles about a dozen. His office hours start at 7:30 a.m., 90 minutes earlier than they did before his political career.

He sometimes makes phone calls between seeing patients, talking about public policy one minute and epileptic seizures the next. To keep up in the future, he expects to reduce face time with patients even more.

“We’ve cut back just a little bit,” Northam said. “When all is said and done, my patient load will be three-quarters of what it was.”

Mathieson, whose legislative office is about three miles from his professional one, mixes his meetings during the day.

“It’s just a balancing act of everyday life, family commitments, work commitments and the office,” Mathieson said. “And just trying to do the best job you can.”

Staff writer Julian Walker contributed to this report.

Richard Quinn, (757) 222-5119, richard.quinn@pilotonline.com