Commonwealth Attorney candidate Jonathon "Jon" Moseley is not "surprised" about the attacks on where he lives and why he is running for the constitutional office.
Moseley said he moved to Loudoun County earlier this month from Arlington a week before he filed as a candidate, since the state election law requires him to live where he files for candidacy.
"I said right up front I had just moved to run. People are trying to make something out of it anyway," said Moseley, who is 42. "I was surprised no one was running for the office. … I think the voters needed a choice."
On March 7, Moseley filed a Statement of Organization to run as a Republican candidate for the Commonwealth Attorney’s position, currently filled by Robert Anderson. Anderson, a former Republican Party member, is running as an Independent to serve for a third four-year term.
Judy Brown, general registrar, sent out a voter registration card to Moseley’s address, listed as 42525 Braddock Rd. in South Riding, the next day. The U.S. Postal Service returned the card on March 17 with it stamped as "Attempted, Unknown," so Brown called Moseley to verify the address. Moseley said the other resident at the address claims he receives his mail, and Brown sent out another card the next day.
"We were questioning whether it should be South Riding or Chantilly," Brown said, adding that the county land records list the address as being in Chantilly but that the individual residents are allowed to choose a Chantilly or South Riding address.
MOSELEY MOVED into the basement of a friend’s house to rent the unit. The previous roommate told the post office to send only his mail to the address, a reason the card may not have reached him, Moseley said.
"To find something quickly, I had to turn to people I know," Moseley said, adding that another friend of his moved into his rental unit in Arlington, where he has lived since 1997. "People have asked me to move out there and run for office. It’s something I wanted to do for a long time, but I didn’t take the jump because I knew .. . I’d be commuting."
A lawyer since 1996, Moseley currently works at Protas Spivok & Collins, LLC in Bethesda, Md. He started with the company last year after serving as an in-house attorney for Ticonderoga Farms, where the house he is renting is located. He represented the tree farm and forestry company in its effort to remain zoned as A-3, an agriculture area, instead of as a transitional area under the Revised General Plan, in one of about 200 lawsuits filed against the county’s adopted zoning ordinance.
Moseley is criticized for representing both Ticonderoga Farms and Citizens for Property Rights (CPR), an anti-smart growth organization that was charged $640 for a Freedom of Information (FOI) request. "I’ve encouraged them to challenge that. It’s a deterrent to everybody who wants to find out what the government is doing," he said. "Part of what needs to change in the county is this acrimonious atmosphere. I didn’t click my heels and salute 100 percent this smart growth."
CPR president Jack Shockey affirmed the only lawsuit Moseley handled for CPR regards the FOI request. "Anytime you go against the establishment, they want to start an investigation on you. I find that very curious," he said.
Moseley does not claim to be pro-development and has never represented a developer in his lawsuits, he said. "It’s sad smart growth people can’t debate their plans honestly," he said. "[They] engage in ad hominem instead of debating whether their policies are wise or not."
MOSELEY was criticized for being in arrears on his county taxes for a 31-acre parcel he co-owns near South Riding. He said the person responsible for paying the taxes did not make the payment, but when he learned about the situation, the taxes were paid the same day. "We’re trying to get it into agricultural land," Moseley said. "What bothers me the most, when landowners try to not build houses, the county fights them on that. They fight everybody about everything. … It all makes sense if the goal is to expand the size of government."
Moseley said the smart growth issue should not be the focus of his race, which he wants to center on keeping the county safe and on working with the sheriff on cases needing to be prosecuted. The recent attacks on Sheriff Stephen Simpson are "harmful to the county getting work done in policing the community," he said.
Likewise, Anderson filed as an Independent candidate to keep his focus on public safety, though he still considers himself a Republican. "I think the politics are at such a fever of pitch, ... so emotional, it would be better if I stepped back," he said. "At this point in time, we are so busy with cases coming in from eight different police stations, we're trying to stay ahead of this curve. ... Police offices expand constantly, and it is a struggle to keep up with the increase."
Anderson said he does not know Moseley. "I suspect those incidents and matters will be the subject of an investigation to determine whether he was or wasn't a resident," he said.