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Olsen
Jenkins
Hicks |
BY KEITH EPPS
Fresh off one historic election, Fredericksburg voters won't have to wait long for another.
City residents will elect a new commonwealth's attorney in a Dec. 16 special election. It is the first time in at least 82 years--and probably ever--that the position has been contested.
The winner will complete the remaining year of the Charles Sharp's unexpired term. Sharp recently became a circuit court judge after holding the city prosecutor's position for 18 years.
So far, three people--two experienced prosecutors and a defense attorney with deep Fredericksburg roots--have announced they are seeking the position.
Eric Olsen, LaBravia Jenkins and Joseph E. Hicks are the candidates currently trying to persuade some of the 9,600 city voters who turned out for the Nov. 4 election to turn out in support of them.
The winner will have to seek a new four-year term next November if he or she wants to serve more than a year.
City Registrar Juanita Pitchford said any other interested people have until Monday at 5 p.m. to submit the required signatures that would make them eligible to be on the ballot.
Anyone not already registered to vote has until Dec. 2 to do so in order to vote in the special election, Pitchford said.
Hicks, known as "Jeh," is a partner in the law firm Jarrell, Hicks and Sasser. His father also was an attorney, and his mother served on the city's Electoral Board.
Hicks is a fourth-generation area resident who played football at James Monroe High School. He and his wife, Shannon, have an infant son.
Jenkins is the current commonwealth's attorney in Fredericksburg. She was appointed to the position after Sharp left.
Jenkins has been a prosecutor for 13 years and also has experience as a defense attorney in the Public Defender's Office. She has been a prosecutor in both Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County. Jenkins and her husband have two children.
Olsen, a lifelong city resident, has been a prosecutor in Stafford County for 19 years. He has tried all types of cases and has particular expertise in crimes against children.
He and his wife, Tina, live in the College Terrace area and have two children.
Because special elections generally have low turnouts, it is unlikely that the city will attract anywhere near the 73 percent of registered voters who showed up for the Nov. 4 election.
The winner will become the city's sixth commonwealth's attorney since 1926.
William B.F. Cole held the position from 1926 until 1963. He was followed by J.M.H. Willis Jr., H. Harrison Braxton Jr., Ann Palamar Jarrell and Sharp.
Willis and others weren't sure what happened with the office before 1926, but none of the former prosecutors contacted knew of a contested race since then.
Braxton, now a retired judge who served as the city's commonwealth's attorney from 1974 through 1982, said there was a good reason the position wasn't contested in past years.
"No one was crazy enough to ask for the job when I had it, because it didn't pay anything," Braxton said. "I guess it's a more desirable position now."
Braxton said the position was part-time during his tenure and paid about $7,000 a year.
Before he left office, Sharp's salary was $120,838, including a local supplement of $5,000, according to the State Compensation Board and the city's budget office.
Keith Epps: 540/374-5404
Email: kepps@freelancestar.com
