The Virginian-Pilot
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A 27-year-old prosecutor in Portsmouth said he was fired because he plans to challenge incumbent Harvey Bryant for Virginia Beach commonwealth's attorney.
Mark C. Hardman has worked as a Portsmouth assistant commonwealth's attorney for about five months, and he said Monday that he ha s been told to tie up loose ends on cases by Friday.
Bill Prince, a spokesman for the Portsmouth commonwealth's attorney's office, said chief prosecutor Earle Mobley told Hardman that he wouldn't be able to do his job effectively while running for office.
"He's very much learning his craft and we don't think he could divide his time responsibly between campaigning and doing his job in Portsmouth," Prince said.
Prince denied Hardman's claim that he was fired because Mobley and Bryant are friends.
Hardman, who graduated in 2007 from the University of Virginia School of Law, is running as an independent. He said he plans to file paperwork with the city's voter registrar's office within the next two weeks.
Bryant, 62, is a Republican seeking his third term.
The Virginia Beach commonwealth's attorney's office includes 37 attorneys who prosecute about 16,000 criminal charges per year.
Shawn Day, (757) 222-5131, shawn.day@pilotonline.com
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wrongful discharge
Ring442: your comment that "you can be fired for any reason in Virginia" is generally true, but not always. The state supreme court ruled in a case called Bowman that you can't be fired for exercising a right that you clearly possess by law. You also can't be fired for refusing to commit a crime. Running for elected office is certainly a recognized civil right. Regardless of whether Virginia law protected Hardman in this situation, the Portsmouth Commonwealth attorney might have broken federal law if this story is true.
On another note, I for one am glad to hear that Harvey Bryant has a challenger. Even if he wins again, it's better if he is not allowed to just coast into the office over and over as though he owns it.
Then they can let him go...
when his performance starts to suffer. That's called just cause. His qualifications to get elected have everything to do with what he brings to that table and what the voters think, and nothing to do with unarticulated, unsubstantiated predictions by his current boss. Heck, if total lack of experience was a disqualifier, we'd have a different president right now.
Don't forget
You can be fired for any reason under Virginia right to work laws. Maybe he was fired for just cause and maybe not. One thing is for certain having only been out of law school for two years and a lawer for 5 months, he lacks the qualifications to be a big city proseecutor.
Wow.
Of course many jobs come with stated minimum lengths of tenure that new hires agree to, but there's no mention of that in the article. Also no mention that M. Hardman wasn't performing satisfactorily. Mr. Hardman was let go because of SPECULATION that he MIGHT not be able to do his job while simultaneously trying to better himself. I wonder how many politicians would be in office today if they had to make a decision like this? What's next? "Sorry Son, but we don't think you'll be able to carry those college courses and work here at the same time." or "Sorry dear, we'll have to let you go now that you're expecting. No way you can be a Mom and work effectively here."
Does anyone really believe this is the reason Mr. Hardman was let go? I truly hope he can weather this storm and get elected in VB. His first investigation could then be an internal one: to determine the origin of the phone call that got him fired.
The smell of Camden politics has crept under a few more doors in Portsmouth.