Complaint Against Prosecutor Dismissed

Ex-Senate Candidate Said Investigation Was Politically Motivated

The Virginia State Bar has dismissed a complaint alleging that Loudoun County Commonwealth's Attorney James E. Plowman abused his office when he investigated a state Senate candidate on accusations of campaign finance violations.

The candidate, Republican Mark D. Tate, was indicted on charges of felony election fraud and perjury in May 2007, shortly before he lost a primary election. The charges stemmed from alleged irregularities on Tate's campaign finance filings.

Tate's attorney, Edward B. MacMahon Jr., said Plowman (R), a supporter of Tate's political opponent, Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel (R-Winchester), targeted Tate to influence the election. MacMahon filed a complaint with the state bar in October 2007.

A bar official who reviewed the complaint sent MacMahon a letter dated Jan. 15, on which Plowman was copied, saying that the matter would be dismissed because of a lack of evidence.

MacMahon declined to comment on the content of the letter but said he accepted the decision.

"They decided to dismiss the thing, and that's their prerogative," he said.

Plowman began investigating allegations against Tate, former vice mayor of Middleburg, in February 2007, after receiving a tip from a volunteer in Holtzman Vogel's campaign about "discrepancies" in Tate's campaign finance reports. Plowman recused himself from the case in April 2007, and a special prosecutor was brought in. Tate was indicted the following month, beginning a protracted legal and political battle. He pleaded guilty in September to two misdemeanor campaign finance violations.

In her dismissal letter, Marian L. Beckett, assistant bar counsel, said MacMahon had alleged that Plowman "abused his position" to help Tate's opponent, initiated the investigation "for political reasons" and remained "improperly involved" in the case after his recusal.

But Beckett wrote that Plowman had disputed the accusations and that she had only MacMahon's "word against his with nothing to corroborate either. Therefore, there is insufficient evidence for the bar to proceed on the complaint."

In a statement last week, Plowman said MacMahon's attempts to discredit him were part of a "desperate" legal strategy.

"Mr. MacMahon engaged in a year-long, dishonest assault on this office and my reputation for the purpose of muddying the water in a desperate attempt to clear former Senate candidate Mark Tate," Plowman wrote. "His self-righteous claims were nothing more than an insincere, but purposeful distraction that was readily apparent to the Virginia State Bar."