In the end, it may all amount to nothing major. But it’s hard to imagine this is the “review” Jones had in mind.

“First of all, there’s a grand jury involved,” said Bob Holsworth, a veteran commentator on Richmond politics and a former professor and dean at Virginia Commonwealth University. “Which means it’s unlikely to be simply a review of administrative functions (such as) spending a little too much time attending to business on city time. It seems to have the prospect of criminality in it with a grand jury” that goes beyond Jones getting a second opinion on what the city auditor uncovered.

“And secondly, the mayor has said nothing about the involvement of the FBI. Now you don’t want to get ahead of yourself, because the FBI investigates a whole lot of things ... but certainly, the nature of the review has apparently extended beyond the mayor’s original request,” Holsworth said.

And once the FBI starts looking into matters, the agency tends to stay awhile, he said. “The FBI is a very thorough, conducts extremely methodical investigations. They’re not going to move on somebody else’s timetable.”