Needless suspicions in Beach flier-gate

As Virginia Beach Mayor-elect Will Sessoms prepares for his swearing in next month, a special prosecutor is deciding whether a campaign flier improperly linking Sessoms and President-elect Barack Obama merits charges.

The investigation is appropriate, but Virginia Beach doesn't need a special prosecutor to handle the case. The city's commonwealth's attorney, Harvey Bryant, has the responsibility to determine whether a crime was committed and level charges, if warranted.

Instead of making a decision on a relatively minor case involving a political dirty trick, Bryant has punted to a special prosecutor with an explanation that raises questions where there should be none.

The case began on Election Day, when a flier about Sessoms, a Republican who supported Obama's opponent, John McCain, was distributed to voters in predominantly black precincts.

Sessoms said he didn't know about the flier and ordered copies destroyed when he learned about them midday. The flier depicted Sessoms and Obama smiling side by side but did not contain the required disclosure on who authorized the material. Mayor Meyera Oberndorf's campaign filed a formal complaint, saying the flier violated campaign rules. Bryant, a Republican, began investigating.

But rather than decide whether the flier violated a campaign regulation or compromised the election in a way that constituted a serious crime (which seems unlikely), Bryant sidestepped the controversy. Now, it drags on in a way that raises unwarranted suspicions.

Bryant asked the circuit court to appoint a special prosecutor, saying he wanted "to assure the public that any decision to prosecute or not to prosecute is being objectively made based on the facts" because the City Council approves his budget.

"The City of Virginia Beach provides roughly 60 percent of the budget for this office, without which we could not prosecute approximately 16,000 criminal charges per year," Bryant said.

This is thin logic from an elected official whose powers derive from the state constitution and who does not answer to the City Council. His concerns about appearances of political bias are understandable, but the logic leaves us wondering: Who's watching the store, if not Bryant?

By the strain of his logic, Bryant has undermined his own credibility as the Beach's No. 1 watchdog. He says that unlike other commonwealth's attorneys, he prosecutes his own city's police officers, but argues that asking for a special prosecutor in this politically charged case "increases the public's confidence, rather than diminishes it." By extension, doesn't Bryant's statement disqualify him from investigating malfeasance or corruption by officers of the state, as well, since his office gets millions of dollars from the state?

In this specific case, Sessoms' margin of victory - 6,852 votes - was substantial enough that the fliers couldn't have affected the outcome. Still, someone needs to be held responsible for breaking the rules and given an appropriate fine.

At the moment, the more serious question is not about the integrity of the election, but whether Virginia Beach's top law enforcement officer is willing to be the city's watchdog.