Timing just right for Roger’s move out of DA’s office

No need to play coy.

David Roger's transition from the top of the Clark County district attorney's office to general counsel of the Police Protective Association has been smoothed behind the scenes for weeks.

PPA Executive Director Chris Collins intimated to the Review-Journal that he would call Roger and offer him the job after the veteran district attorney made his official announcement. But I'm betting a month's pay that Collins has had Roger on speed dial for some time. And I wouldn't be surprised to find Roger's new office is already being remodeled.

This has been a done deal in spirit. The move, wise on both parts, has been no secret around the courts and county building. (It's hard to keep a secret when at least one of Roger's would-be successors is observed lobbying members of the County Commission.)

But no matter. If Roger wanted to make a change in his professional life, his timing couldn't have been better.

At 50, Roger has put in his 25 years with the county, rising from a court clerk to district attorney, and he has a lucrative Public Employee Retirement System pension coming. The Review-Journal reported Tuesday that Roger also bought nearly five years of service to bring his total time for retirement purposes to 30. That will give him
75 percent of his best-paying years in a job with an annual salary of approximately $203,000.

The unassuming Roger had done everything there is to do in the DA's office, climbing steadily to become the county's top homicide prosecutor. Although he seemed an unlikely candidate for political office, he managed to be successful there, too.

The district attorney's position is sometimes viewed as a path to high political office. The experience certainly helped Gov. Bob Miller's portfolio. But Roger's professional interests never seemed to stray from the courthouse. (Not surprisingly, his name occasionally has surfaced in connection with judicial openings over the years.)

Choosing the comfortable PPA general counsel job seems like a natural for a proud new father whose wife, Susan Roger, was sworn in this year as a Municipal Court judge. But when David Roger made his official announcement Tuesday morning following the front-page Review-Journal story, he offered the tired political cliche about wanting to spend more time with his daughter as a key reason for his retirement.

"This past year has been filled with many wonderful moments with our daughter," he said. "As a 50-year-old father, I am very cognizant of my own mortality and want to spend every minute of every day enjoying time with my family."

While I don't doubt he's sincere, and I've seen the pride in his eyes as he carries his joyful bundle in public, he's also on the verge of accepting a position to represent the community's largest police union. So it looks like Mr. Mom will be toting Holly Marie to the cop shop.

There are other benefits to leaving the DA's office at this time. With tax revenues continuing to flag, Roger was increasingly pressured to cut the budget of his 600-employee department. More recently, he has been butting heads with U.S. Attorney Dan Bogden over elements of the county arson investigation of attorney Nancy Quon, a key target in the federal investigation of corruption inside local homeowners associations and the construction-defect litigation industry.

Then there's another element that must be considered. Once he put his time in, Roger no longer needed to continue to work a largely thankless job. Compared with the DA's duty, representing the police union will be patty-cake. (Especially if he brings his daughter to the office.)

For a man not ideally suited for the political and public aspects of the job, as district attorney, Roger applied a strong work ethic to a difficult task. The result was a professionally run office that remains tough on crime even in hard times.

And if his official announcement lacked a little drama, well, it was in keeping with David Roger's understated personality.

John L. Smith's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Email him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call 702-383-0295. He also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/smith.