Photos by SAM DEAN The Roanoke Times

Brian Wishneff (left) and lawyer John Lichtenstein prepare to depart from Roanoke Circuit Court after their successful motion to dismiss charges of violating campaign finance laws.

Brian Wishneff listens as his lawyer, John Lichtenstein, speaks to members of the media.

Brian Wishneff, the ghost writer of a campaign ad that used the alias "Joe Smith" to attack his opponent in last year's Roanoke City Council election, is no longer facing criminal charges.

A judge dismissed two misdemeanors Thursday at the request of both Wishneff's attorney and special prosecutor John Alexander.

Wishneff's legal team had mounted an aggressive attack on the prosecution's rare use of campaign finance laws. But Alexander said he was most swayed by a $3,700 civil penalty recently issued by the state board of elections against the former city councilman. That was punishment enough, he decided.

"It would not serve the public interest for a prosecution to go forward," Alexander said.

Both the criminal charges and the civil penalties dealt with a newspaper ad that attacked city council candidate Court Rosen in the closing days of last year's municipal election. A line at the bottom of the ad said it was paid for by Joe Smith -- an alias Wishneff later admitted he made up.

For all the attention the false name generated, the criminal case involved something else: Wishneff's failure to report the cost of the ad, which was financed by an unregistered political action committee, to the state as a campaign contribution.

Alexander said it was never the prosecution's intent to seek a jail sentence, even though that was possible under the law. And while Virginia allows both civil and criminal enforcement of campaign finance laws, authorities decided to forgo the prosecution once Wishneff accepted responsibility and paid the civil penalty.

Wishneff's actions were on the low end of the election misconduct scale, which can range from vote buying to paperwork violations, Alexander said.

After Roanoke Circuit Court Judge William Broadhurst dismissed the charges, Wishneff said outside the courtroom that he was relieved to put the case behind him.

Had it gone forward, defense attorney John Lichtenstein said he was prepared to mount a vigorous defense. A 23-page motion sought to dismiss the charges on several fronts, including the argument that the state had not exhausted its civil remedies before charging Wishneff with a crime.

"I think the average person would feel that it's an administrative matter," Wishneff said.

Wishneff, who lost his bid for re-election last May, said in a statement released through Lichtenstein that he has made valuable contributions to the city, including his time on the council.

"With these matters behind him, he now looks forward to new opportunities of service," the statement read.

Asked if he would run for office again, Wishneff said he didn't know. "I'm not soured" on the political process, he said.

Rosen, who weathered the attack by Wishneff and won a seat on the council, declined to comment Thursday on the case's outcome.

Although Wishneff was the only person to face criminal charges in the Joe Smith saga, the political action committee that bankrolled the ad could still face civil penalties from the board of elections.

Citizens for Sensible Decisions is not registered as a political action committee, as it should have been when it paid for the full-page ads that ran in The Roanoke Times, election officials have said. The group could also face fines for not reporting its expenses to the board of elections.

David Allen, campaign finance manager for the board, said earlier this week that he is prepared to issue civil penalties against the group.

Published in the closing days of last year's municipal elections, the ad portrayed the 29-year-old Rosen as an ill-informed candidate with no record of community involvement.

Wishneff, who at the time was running on a campaign theme of "Integrity Matters," has said he worked with Citizens for Sensible Decisions on the ad's wording.

Shortly before the ad was published, Wishneff said he took a call from an advertising sales representative at The Roanoke Times. After first arguing about whether a person's name needed to appear on the ad as its sponsor, Wishneff said he made up the name Joe Smith.

Wishneff said he did so at the newspaper's suggestion -- an assertion The Roanoke Times has denied.

In asking that the charges be dismissed, Alexander said he was not conceding to the legal challenges raised by Lichtenstein. Rather, he said, a decision was made after consultations with the board of elections and the attorney general's office that the law had already been enforced through the civil process.

"Election laws are there for a reason," he said, "and without enforcement, they are a fallacy."