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Ziglar will seek fifth term as Commonwealth's Attorney
Friday, February 15, 2013
Incumbent Martinsville Commonwealth’s Attorney Joan Ziglar said Thursday she will seek re-election in November.
Ziglar, 52, of Martinsville, first was elected to the post in 1997, and she took office in 1998. She said she is seeking a fifth four-year term because she has found her calling.
“You know how in life you search for your niche? I’ve found my niche. I’ve always been a public servant. I never liked a job when I wasn’t serving the public,” Ziglar said.
She served in various capacities in the private sector, but none gave her the ability to combine her values and beliefs, she said.
The position of commonwealth’s attorney allows Ziglar to combine the best of all worlds because it lets her combine her “passion for the law” with serving the community, she said.
Even “when I worked in private practice, I didn’t like” it because she did not like charging people for helping them, Ziglar said. As commonwealth’s attorney, “I don’t have to charge people for helping them. This allows me to help people without worrying about getting paid.”
Ziglar earned a bachelor’s degree from Ferrum College, a master’s degree from Virginia Commonwealth University, and a law degree from The College of William and Mary Law School.
In the private sector, she held jobs including administering housing grants for the city of Martinsville and working as a probation and parole officer in Martinsville-Henry County. She also was an assistant public defender in Martinsville and later served as special counsel to the attorney general, Division of Child Support Enforcement, Virginia Department of Social Services.
No one else has announced a candidacy for the job.
