Richmond Commonwealth's Attorney Michael N. Herring will give his take on the city's fast-changing political leadership in a speech tonight to the Richmond Crusade for Voters.

Herring is serving his first term, but he's beginning to look like an elder statesman with the impending departures of Mayor L. Douglas Wilder and Police Chief Rodney Monroe. Schools superintendent Deborah Jewell-Sherman also is leaving when her contract expires.

Losing Monroe to Charlotte, N.C., is particularly worrisome for the city's chief prosecutor, who works closely with the police department on criminal investigations and prosecutions.

"The institutional culture of the department changes under Monroe," Herring said last week. "The good environment he created hopefully will outlast him.

"It's in everybody's interest that the good things continue."

Herring will speak during a dinner meeting that will begin at 7 p.m. at the Military Retirees Club, 2220 Chamberlayne Ave. in Richmond.

The event is open to the public.