According to The Virginian-Pilot:
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.
If anyone doubts that Byrd machine is alive and well, look no further than Hampton Roads. The area is littered with the corpses of folks who dared to challenge the status quo. In this case, the excuse given is that the young man, Mark C. Hardman, couldn’t “divide his time responsibly between campaigning and doing his job in Portsmouth.”
Almost every candidate who runs for office does so while holding a job. Unless one is wealthy, there is no alternative. So to think that he couldn’t do both – when almost everyone does – is just blowing smoke.
Oh, well. I guess they could had said worse and damaged this young man more.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
A bit heavy-handed no doubt, but it’s a bit unusual for an Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney to run against their boss while still working in the office, no ?
Although there are times when I wonder why we vote for CA to begin with.
You misread it. The guy works in Portsmouth and will be running in Virginia Beach, so he’s not running against his boss.
Ok, my mistake…..
As they once said on SNL…….never mind 😉
Threaded comments? Excellent.
Yeah. But still working on the styling.
Welcome to politics! In or out of elected office, if you have been active in politics it has affected us all, in relationships, in work, etc. If it hasn’t you, then consider yourself lucky!
In a way Mataconis nailed it through his error. The guy is running against a Beach Republican, and so the Republican CA in Portsmouth canned him. Or at least, that’s the appearance.
You’d think the GOP would still feel secure enough in their stronghold not to kneecap this guy so blatantly.