Time is ticking its way to our special election on February 10 for Portsmouth’s Commonwealth’s Attorney for the next three years. (We’re replacing now-Judge Mobley, for those of you who’ve been living under a rock lately.) Anyway, after listening to all three candidates at a forum last month and interviewing the two who agreed to be interviewed (Ms. Sprinkle and Mr. Rosenberg), I am going to vote for Ms. Sprinkle, and here’s why: Ms. Morales presents very well, but she has been an attorney for only five years, all of them in our C.A. office. She seems very nice (though I’ve had no personal contact outside “hello” in City Hall) and later might be a dynamite choice given her aplomb in the forum, but five years isn’t a whole lot of experience, and none of it’s been on the defense side or in running an office. I like Mr. Rosenberg, but almost all of his pretty vast experience is on the defense side of the equation. Ms. Sprinkle has five years’ experience prosecuting (four and half of them working in Mobley’s office) and nearly a decade on the defense side. She also has been managing the office during her years in defense work. Tough choice, but I have to go with the extra time in the C.A.’s office–which is actually, day-to-day, more than either of her opponents can claim–as well as her experience in defense and office management.

(Originally posted by Terry Danaher on her Facebook timeline, we reproduce her essay here with the author’s permission.)