Mark Butler leaves Herndon Police job to go ‘all in’ on sheriff’s campaign

Mark Butler joins Roger Bianchini in the Royal Examiner studio. Photo and video by Mark Williams, Royal Examiner.

On Thursday, September 26, Mark Butler sat down in the Royal Examiner/National Media studios to discuss his independent run for Warren County Sheriff and suddenly surfaced social media rumors about his candidacy and departure from his job with the Town of Herndon Police Department.

Butler’s interview with Royal Examiner occurred two days after the entire sitting Warren County Board of Supervisors, the County Administrator and former County and EDA Attorney, as well as a mix of current and former Economic Development Authority Board of Director members, turned themselves in at RSW Regional Jail to be booked on three misdemeanor charges of misfeasance or nonfeasance in the conduct of their municipal office or jobs.

The charges brought in sealed indictments from the EDA Special Grand Jury on Friday, September 20, allege an absence of due diligent oversight of the activities of former EDA Executive Director Jennifer McDonald over the final four months of 2018. Those were months following town staff discovery of years of debt service overpayments to the EDA; as well as months during which a contracted public accounting firm fraud investigation of EDA finances had been launched by the EDA and Warren County.

Grand Jury indicts 14 County and EDA officials for lack of EDA oversight

It was those EDA-related criminal bookings of Tuesday, September 24, that Butler told Royal Examiner led to his decision to resign slightly earlier than he had planned while both campaigning for sheriff and moving toward retirement eligibility next June in his current law enforcement job in Herndon.

“This community is hurting and I can’t ask people to go all in for me if I’m not willing to go all in for them in my run for sheriff,” Butler told Royal Examiner during a first attempted video interview at a candidate “Meet and Greet” event at the Front Royal Brewery on Wednesday. That interview was scrapped due to background crowd noise drowning out portions of the audio. So it was into the controlled confines of the Royal Examiner/National Media studios for a rerun the following day.

Butler is in a four-way race to replace Mike Arnold, who took over sheriff’s department leadership on an interim basis following the resignation of Danny McEathron to early retirement on May 1. Arnold, elevated to sheriff from his second in command Major’s position, is not running to keep the Warren County Sheriff’s job.

However former County Deputy Jason Poe who is currently employed in another jurisdiction, long-time WCSO Deputy and current courthouse Bailiff Mickey Licklider and Jorge Amselle are in the race with Butler. Poe and Amselle are carrying political party endorsements, Republican and Democratic respectively; Butler and Licklider are running as independents.

Over the weekend three days after the interview, we asked Butler about an assertion put forth to us by a local Republican Committee member that he was covering up the fact that he was actually forced to resign or be fired from the Herndon Police Force job he has held for 14 of his nearly 20-year law enforcement career.

“The facts are the facts – I left on good terms and I could get a law enforcement job anywhere in the country. As I’ve spoken for the last two years, I won’t play the political mudslinging game and I won’t be bullied by anyone,” Butler responded, adding, “My quote is, ‘Hash tag I’m all in’ – that’s my new logo.”

Listen to Butler’s explanation of his decision to devote 100% of his working time to his campaign for Warren County Sheriff and his thoughts on the community and its sheriff’s department’s future direction in this exclusive Royal Examiner video interview: