Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 28, 1995 TAG: 9510300054
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Call it the case of the purloined letter - but in this instance, it's a political whodunit, not an Edgar Allan Poe mystery.
Montgomery County's commonwealth's attorney and Virginia Tech's police chief said they consider a letter read at a political forum Thursday to be stolen property.
Joey Showalter, the Republican trying to unseat Commonwealth's Attorney Phil Keith, said the letter contained information voters needed to know.
Showalter read a letter that Tech Police Chief Mike Jones recently wrote Keith chastising him for letting a forfeited vehicle go back to a defendant, and asking Keith how he would "repair" his relationship with law enforcement.
A peeved Keith defended his rapport with police officers. He wanted to know how Showalter got the letter. Jones did, too.
Showalter's political adviser, James Oliver, said Friday that the letter came from within Keith's office.
"Joey received the letter from someone within the commonwealth's attorney's office, and he is not going to reveal who that is" to protect that person's job, Oliver said.
Both Keith and Jones are upset that what they describe as a personal letter was obtained and used for political purposes by Showalter.
"It had nothing to do with politics," the police chief, who was not at the forum, said Thursday. "As far as I'm concerned, it's a piece of stolen property from my files or Phil's files."
Keith, too, described the letter as stolen.
"I consider it completely unethical for [Showalter] to be doing that. I also wonder if that's the kind of person people would be wanting to have as their prosecutor - having stolen property and using it in this fashion."
The unanswered question is exactly who gave Showalter the letter. If it did come from Keith's office, there are only four suspects: two assistant commonwealth's attorneys and two secretaries.
"No matter how I came up with it ... I think the letter speaks for itself," Showalter said.
An indignant Jones said he has a history of remaining neutral in political races and did not appreciate being dragged into the commonwealth's attorney race.
"I have for 26 years evaded politics in Montgomery County for just this reason," said Jones, who lives in Giles County.
"Him pulling that letter out ... is probably just as low as you can stoop."
Jones said he received as many as 50 phone calls after the forum.
"The calls I have gotten are from Republicans and Democrats, on both sides, that have known for 25 years Mike Jones doesn't go one way or another."
Showalter said he attempted to contact Jones before he used the letter.
Showalter's aggressive door-to-door campaign to unseat Keith has included charges that the office is not well-managed; that "speedy trial" deadlines pass, resulting in charges being dropped; and that too many drug cases are plea-bargained.
"The question was posed to bring out the fact there are problems with the commonwealth's attorney's office not doing his job in prosecuting" after law enforcement officers have worked hard to make their cases, Showalter said.
Jones said Thursday night that Keith's Oct. 4 response to his letter satisfactorily explained why the car was not forfeited.
Keith wrote Jones that after a forfeiture hearing, a judge ruled that the car should be returned to its owner.
Regardless of the judge's ruling, Showalter said the case could have been resolved much more quickly.
"The car sat there for two years on the impoundment lot, and nothing was done," Showalter said, adding that he thought Jones' letter made it obvious that at the very least, Tech was not kept informed about the status of the case.
Jones was still upset about the letter's use Friday, even after discussing the matter with Showalter.
"I have to say he did call and apologize," Jones said.
Wythe County Supervisors Chairman Mark Munsey said his visit to the Board of Corrections Wednesday, when he was in Richmond on another matter, was simply to find out if a decision had been made on whether a private prison would be built in Wythe. A story in Thursday's paper indicated he had been there with people opposing the prison.
Keywords:
POLITICS
Memo: ***CORRECTION***