Peoria Pundit

Per the Journal Star and the Peoria Times-Observer, we have learned that five of the six people arrested in a drug bust Wednesday in the East Bluff were allowed to leave jail after the Peoria County State’s Attorney’s Office issued notices to appear.

My two cents: Let that sink in for a moment folks. The elected official who’s job it is to put those he believes are criminals in jail let these people charged with a crime to walk out without posting bond. This includes 22-year-old Justin Rodgers. He faces six felony drug and weapons, according to HOINews.

Rodgers is convicted felon.

Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis and City Councilman Bob Manning held a press conference Sunday to ask publicly why these people were released.

And then Lyons held his own conference:

In response to Ardis’ questions, Lyons said Rodgers was released from jail because he planned to use Rodgers’ arrest this week against him at his Dec. 4 hearing to revoke his probation for previous Tazewell County drug charges. Lyons said his decision is Rodgers’ “quickest and most direct way to the prison door.”

And exactly what is wrong with letting this knucklehead stew in a jail cell waiting for Dec. 4 hearing that Lyons is oh-so-sure will send him away? That way, the good people of the East Bluff would have an extra month without having to suffer his presence.

Lyons also said that he wasn’t quite ready to decide by Friday exactly what to charge the people who were arrested on Wednesday, and because he can’t hold people without charges for longer than 48 hours, he cut ‘em loose. And it was Friday.

Seems to me that solution would have been to — hold onto your hats folks — actually charge them with something. Police has this joint up for two weeks. If we had a state’s attorney actually capable of working well with police, Lyons might have been in a better position to know exactly what to charge these them.

Lyons is right about one thing. He says politics was the motivation for the press conference.

Absolutely. GOOD politics. The kind of politics that’s all about trying to put the needs of the public above the needs of hack career bureaucrats like Catch-And-Release Kevin Lyons.

Kudos to Ardis and Manning.

Lyons also complained that all the attention on this cases puts the prosecution at risk. Lyons said this at his own press conference.

I came to the conclusion years ago that Peoria would never fully get a handle on the crime problems driving families away from the city and out of our schools. I don’t think that the election of Darin LaHood will be the cure for crime. But it’s a start to making things better.

I don’t care who you are rooting for in the Peoria County State’s Attorney race, THIS is funny:

Please enable Javascript and Flash to view this Flash video.

Take a look at the video from HOINews. Then come back here.

Done? Good.

For those who didn’t look, I’ll recap. It was taken at a candidates forum. Darin LaHood, a candidate for Peoria County State’s attorney, says that if he is elected, he would diversity the office. He noted that while 70 percent of people prosecuted by the state’s attorney’s office are African American, but none of the office’s 31 attorneys are black.

When LaHood is finished, current State’s Attorney Kevin Lyons grabbed the microphone and angrily demanded the right to defend himself. The reason there’s no black attorneys on staff is because the former chief of felonies is now a judge. And he brags that the first face people see when they want into the state’s attorney’s office is a black face. And he said the person who manages the entire office is also black. I’m assuming that this refers to two people, because I doubt the office manager also is the receptionist.

All the while, he is angrily stabbing the air with his finger, coming very close to poking LaHood in the back on several occasions.

And then he half-tossed, half-dropped the microphone onto the table. And LaHood is sitting there, looking  amused.

There’s nothing shocking about this. It is entirely within Lyons’ character. The man simply cannot abide being challenged, and it was inevitable during this campaign.

Years ago, I started calling Kevin Lyons “Catch and Release Kevin.” This was because of the complaints expressed by more than one member of the Peoria Police department that Lyons has a tendency to agree to release without charges many of the knuckleheads and neighborhood thugs that officers take into custody. It’s a cliche, but quite often officers would finish their paperwork and hit the streets to find that the person they arrested were back in the neighborhoods. This drove police officers AND members of Peoria’s neighborhood organizations crazy with frustration.

But Lyons has another nickname: “King Kevin.” It refers to his autocratic attitude. I attended a neighborhood meeting several years ago in which Lyons deigned to explain to members of Peoria’s neighborhood groups how his office works. He ended up telling them that he is best suited to decide what’s a crime, not cops and certainly not neighborhood activists. He excused away his refusal to participate in Mayor Jim Ardis’s crime task force as a waste of time. He came off as petulant and condescending.

People who deal with him on a regular basis say the man is arrogant and not a little belligerent with anyone who disagrees with him. Others who work with him compliment his legal skills and his fairness, and I have no reason to doubt them.

I’m not the first person to come to the conclusion Lyons suffers from short man’s syndrome. The guy is simply over compensating. Now, that’s not a bad thing if it leads to more convictions of bad guys. But Lyons directs much of this belligerency toward those who want to help improve Peoria’s crime problem.

He reminds me of that one person at your work who resists any and all change. He or she is a master of the process as it stands now. Anything different is wrong, because that’s not the way it’s always been done.

Lyons may be a good attorney. He certainly has his defenders. But I don’t think he’s a very good public servant, which requires a different set of skills than Lyons has demonstrated in the past, and in this video as well.

Peoria County State’s Attorney Kevin Lyons is going to investigate whether or not State Rep. Aaron Schock broke any laws when he backdated tax-shelter documents for his father eight years ago.

Setting side whether or not Schock should* be charged with a crime, let’s look at the potential winners and losers here.

If Lyons charges Schock with a crime (probably a misdemeanor). it’s possible Lyons picks up a few votes for the effort. I know more Democrats who are crossing over to LaHood than the other way around. It’s possible there are  Schock-hating Democrats who might swing back to Lyons is he slaps Schock with a misdemeanor. My gut feeling is that there aren’t all that many.

If Lyons doesn’t charge Schock with anything, it might cement Lyons’ rep as someone with a tendency to turn the other cheek for officials charged with breaking the rules. It’s possible some Schock supporters will thank him with votes. I don’t see many doing that, however. Most ardent Schock supporters are ardent Republicans.

And in either case, how is Darin LaHood supposed to react? If Lyons does charge Schock, is he going to criticize Lyons for soing so? After all, Schock is a fellow Republican. LaHood would come off as a putting party above the law.

If Lyons doesn’t charge Schock, does LaHood criticize THAT decision? Oh, HELL no. There’s no risk in Schock supporters giving their votes to Lyons in this case, and it might score some votes from those Democrats who really dislike Schock, but were on the fence in the state’s attorney race. But if LaHood is were to demand prosecution of Schock, he better make sure Schock is going to lose, because one doesn’t want to make an enemy of a sitting U.S. Congressman.

So, I’m guessing LaHood keeps him mouth shut if Lyons does nothing.

Are there any independents or undecideds out there who haven’t made up their minds about Schock/LaHood? I’m thinking that’s probably the case in the Peoria area, but maybe not so much out in the hinterlands of the 18th District. Schock has never represented voters outside Peoria County. A newspaper article or a broadcast report that Schock has been charged with official misconduct might sway some folks to give their votes instead to that nice farm lady who is good friends with Congressman Ray.

Months ago, the polls showed Schock with a commanding lead. I haven’t seen a recent poll. I’m not sure that at this late date, whether there’s enough time to ship away enough of that lead. But it’s exactly this sort of thing that can cause an upset. Which is exactly why Schock’s Democratic rival Colleen Callahan held press conferences all over the district today to demand an investigation.

* Yeah, I know it’s a cynical way to look at it. But I guarantee the campaigns are mulling over the same questions right now. Besides, Im no lawyer and I have no idea if a crime was committed or even is there’s a statute of limitations.

Monterius Hinkle on Tuesday pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated criminal sexual assault for a Jan. 16 attack on a 16-year-old girl. He could face 6-30 years in prison. Hinkle also faces charges for Aug. 4, 2007, incident involving a 13-year-old girl June 28, 2007, incident with a 12-year-old girl. These two cases are set for review on Nov. 21, and he could face additional time.

I’m not even going to pretend that I understand the reasons why all the cases aren’t being handled in on one big bunch. I know nothing about the evidence and willingness of the victims to talk, so I’m not going to criticize Lyons for making a deal.

The final sentence is up to the judge, anyway.

So I’ll take a pass on the opportunity to comment on what this all means to the race for Peoria County State’s Attorney. Hopefully, both of the candidates will too.

And frankly, I’m a little disturbed that someonewas conducting a poll that alluded to this case.

I just saw an television ad for Kevin Lyons. Retired Peoria Police officer/official spokesperson Ann Ruggles endorsed him as the best choice for Peoria County state’s attorney.

Journal Star columnist Pam Adams is a bit of a race baiter. She can look at just about any issue, and describe it as an example of racism. This is especially true when the subject of Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis.

In today’s column, Adams looks over minutes from the September meeting of the Peoria Race Relations Commission. She excerpts sentences and paragraphs and “translates” them. Well, she calls them “translations,” but if any United Nations translator were to take the agenda-based liberties Adams does, they would be shipped back to their home countries:

For example:

“Mayor Ardis had hoped more commissioners would have attended today so he could have addressed the entire group but trusted his comments would be conveyed to all commissioners.”

(I didn’t come to listen to your dialogue, I came to make my own.)

Adams doesn’t like Ardis, so a simple statement that he wishes more people were there gets “translated” into Ardis being an autocratic ogre. I’ve sat in on council meetings ranging back to when Dick Carver was mayor. Ardis might be the least autocratic, although he does like meetings to move along.

From what I can tell, there’s a bit a coup attempt in program on this commission. Some folks don’t like that it’s being chaired by Amir Al-Khafaji. At the time he was appointed, the grumbling I heard was that some black people thought a black person should be in charge. Adams doesn’t mention the reason behind the discontent, which is too bad because it would be good if the Peoria Journal Star’s lone black columnist, and the only columnist who almost exclusively covers race issues, would in fact cover an issue involving prejudice against a person of color.

Last week, Adams brought Willie Horton into the Peoria County State’s Attorney’s race. She implied Republican candidate Darin LaHood was a racist. Why? Because he wanted to speak to the father of a white rape victim, when the other victims of the black man accused of the crime were black. Therefore, Adams somehow concludes, LaHood was planning Willie Horton-style ads against Kevin Lyons.

There are several problems with this conclusion, the most obvious of which is that Adams doesn’t possess the powers of precognition any more than she she posses the powers of telepathy in regards to what Mayor Ardis was thinking.

The other is that LaHood didn’t exactly pull the name of Monterius Hinkle from a hat. The vast majority of Americans had Peorians who pay attention to crime already knew about the guy and what he is accused of doing. I think that most Peorians assumed that because of the location of the crimes, ALL the victims were black. That’s what I assumed until I read Adams article. Not that it mattered to me as much as it does to Adams.

And here’s a point that Adams doesn’t mention. The basic facts of the Willie Horton ads were true. He was a convicted murderer given a furlough. He did flee to another state and commit rape and murder. Dukakis, then governor of Massachusetts, didn’t create the furlough program, but he did support it vigorously.

But then the facts don’t matter. Horton was black, therefore the ads were racist. It’s always that was with Adams.

And what are the facts of the Monterius Hinkle case, as they relate to State’s Attorney Kevin Lyons? He declined to prosecute the first time Hinkle was under arrest, saying he didn’t have enough evidence and willing testimony from victims. This last crime happened after Hinkle was released. Would LaHood have mentioned these facts if Lyons had not staged his disastrous press conference accusing LaHood of interfering with the case? Clairvoyant Pam says yes.

And since Adams is concerned about how Peoria’s power structure ignores the concerns of black people, including police brutality, I am wondering when she will mention that association of black ministers have endorsed a candidate for Peoria County State’s Attorney, saying they are convinced this candidate would listen to their concerns, and would actually diversify the office.

They endorsed Darin LaHood, the man Adams says implies is racist because cops like him.

Also, Jim Ardis has endorsed LaHood, which no doubt is further evidence of racism, as far as Adams is concerned.

Adams has always implied that candidates who run on anti-crime platforms are really just trying to scare white voters, never mind that most crime victims are black and that most of the people who are forced by economics to live among crack houses and gang violence are black.

Four years ago, then mayoral candidate Ardis and Eric Turner held a press conference in front of two crack house on Peoria’s South Side. She complained that Ardis was using black people.

There are two types of people who insist that in all discussion of crime, black people are somehow involved: White supremacists, who litter my Website and the Journal Star comments; and folks like Pam Adams, who cannot conceive that anyone who makes crime an issue is not, somehow, complaining about how black people commit crimes.

Perhaps one day, we will have a columnist at the Journal Star who is willing to engage in honest discussion of race from all perspectives, and not just be the organ for those who with one view on the matter.

The Peoria Association Of Pastors For Community & Spiritual Renewal says:

… In light of these issues and others we feel that it is best to pursue new leadership within the Peoria County States Attorney’s Office and after numerous meetings with Darin LaHood in which he voluntarily laid out a plan, we are pleased and excited about the current opportunity to make the community a better one for all of it’s citizens.

The group has says current State’s Attorney Kevin Lyons has been unresponsive to their requests concerning allegations of police brutality. LaHood, on the other hand, has been communicating with the group, and has pledged to improve diversity within the office.

LaHood also has been endorsed by every police union in the county, a fact which Lyons makes him more independent and better able to prosecute police misconduct. It appears this group isn’t buying that argument.

Today, I was chatting with a lifelong Democrat who says LaHood is one of two Republicans who is getting his vote (the other being Joan Krupa). He called Lyons the luckiest S.O.B. on the ballot. In any other election year, Lyons would be tossed easily because they are sick of crime. But Obama is expected to win Illinois in landslide, and no doubt a portion of vote casters will vote straight Democrat because they hate Bush so much.

But if this group of pastors (mostly of black churches) are against Lyons on the issue of police brutality, I have to think LaHood is doing better than even odds.

OK, I know. The title of the office is “state’s attorney” and not “district attorney.” But I think the guy on the left looks a little like Kevin Lyons and the one of the right looks a little like Darin LaHood. In fact, if you look carefully, the guy on the left is just a tad shorter.

The guy making a getaway looks like no well-known Peoria crook I know. Perhaps he’s just symbolic of all the bad guys that have flown the coop under Lyon’s watch, and the guy on the right symbolizes LaHood sounding the alarm. The Lyons character is remaining silent, perhaps symbolizing his belief that it’s not his role to be a crime-fighter, but to sit back and wait for the police to make arrests, then decide whether they’ve collected enough evidence to guarantee an easy conviction. This cover would be even more symbolic of Peoria’s situation if there were a judge sentencing the bad guy to probation.

Just a thought.

Hat tip to a ex-Peorian who has also flown the coop, and who shall remain nameless.

(Press release)

Peoria Area Chamber PAC Supports LaHood for State’s Attorney

Peoria, IL — The Peoria Area Chamber Political Action Committee is the latest organization publicly supporting Darin LaHood in the Peoria County State’s Attorney’s race. The Peoria Area Chamber PAC released this news shortly after candidate forum the Chamber itself hosted for LaHood and his opponent, an incumbent State’s Attorney of 20 years.

“Addressing crime in Peoria is the number one issue in this race. I have put forth a five-point plan to combat this problem while my opponent has indicated his office would only offer more of the same,” explained Peoria County State’s Attorney candidate Darin LaHood during the Wednesday morning forum at the Heartland Partnership office. “Every police organization — including six unions — has endorsed my candidacy, along with eight City Council members and numerous other community leaders. People understand that we need a new approach to fighting crime.”

“The support from the Peoria Area Chamber PAC means a great deal to my campaign,” said LaHood. “I am thankful for all of my supporters — who may not always agree with one another on all the issues — but do agree that we need a change. I’ll restate it; as State’s Attorney, I will work with all citizens of Peoria and collaborate with groups and leaders from all sectors to make Peoria safe for our families.”

Before Chamber members present for the debate, LaHood discussed how the business community can continue to grow, greater economic development can take place, the City of Peoria can become the destination for home buyers in the area rather than more suburban developments and an overall quality of life can be achieved if crime can effectively be addressed. That, said LaHood, has to be a priority of the County’s top prosecutor, something that has been lacking in his office for the last 20 years.

Forty-year-old Darin LaHood presently practices law with the Peoria firm, Miller, Hall & Triggs. Prior to that, he served as Chief Terrorism and Federal Prosecutor for four years with the United States Department of Justice in Las Vegas, Nevada. LaHood gained experience as a county prosecutor during the years he spent as an Assistant State’s Attorney in both Tazewell and Cook Counties. LaHood and his wife Kristen are both Peoria natives and are raising three children. The are active in numerous Peoria charitable and civic organizations, and are members of St. Vincent de Paul Church. To learn more about Darin, volunteer opportunities or contribute to the campaign, visit www.DarinLaHood.com.