When the debate was over, C.J. Summers turned to me and said he was surprised that no one asked either Kevin Lyons (above, left), the current Peoria County State’s Attorney, or Darin LaHood, his GOP challenger, to comment on the controversy that headlined the Peoria Journal Star that morning. Lyons held a press conference to criticize LaHood for visiting the family of a young sexual assault victim. Lyons said LaHood was interfering with the case against the man accused, LaHood he did no such thing.
I won’t discuss the accusation here.
But I admit I went to the debate at West Peoria City Hall expecting the issue to come up. Every single news outlet seemed to be represented. Usually, reporters usually do NOT attend neighborhood association meetings at all. Obviously, a lot of reporters thought they just might be some fireworks.
There wasn’t.
Both candidates made reference to the press people taking up all the space. Lyons talked a bit about how vigorous campaigning is good for democracy. But both candidates were civil to each other, even as they took turns insinuating the other was incompetent, inexperienced, corrupt, untruthful, etc. Lyons even cracked a few jokes.
In other words, they didn’t give the press what they wanted, except for maybe a few good quotes or sound bites. Instead, we were treated to a discussion of the issues. Who woulda thunk?
So why didn’t the good people of West Peoria bring up the subject of the visit to the victim’s family?
Answer: They had other things on their mind. They wanted to know about they candidate’s experience. They wanted to know how they plan to fight crime. Sure there were a couple questions I thought were softballs, but for the most part, these people are concerned about crime and safety.
It’s the press that’s concerned about scandals.
Here are some highlights:
Lyons cited his 20 years experience in the office. LaHood says he prosecuted 30 cases that went to trial in the last 8 years. Lyons says most of those were traffic-related and that’s he’s prosecuted murderers, including serial killers. LaHood responded that he headed a special task force as a federal prosecutor in Las Vegan that focused on prosecuting gun crime. Lyons last appearance in a courtroom was a DUI/resisting arrest that ended in a split verdict, and he personally tries at least one case a year, leaving most prosecutions to assistants. Lyons said LaHood never tried a case in Peoria County. LaHood was a prosecutor in Cook County and In Tazewell County.
Lyons scoffed at a map LaHood distributed that showed Peoria County had one of the highest crime rates in Illinois, saying that went up to 2005. Peoria has had only three murders this year, and if Lyons is going to be blamed for previous crime rates, he wants to be credited for the lower crime rate now. LaHood urged attendees to visit the Illinois State Police web site, which still lists Peoria County as the worst crime rate in 102 counties, he said.
Lyons raised the possibility of asking the state legislature to end the ban on bail bondsmen. He says that if someone other than just the courts and the police have a stake in making sure defendants make their court appearances, they might be fewer people just deciding to sacrifice their $100 bond and not show up in court. He also wants to make more use of “dark” courtrooms, by putting judges and clerks to work handing backlogs when a scheduled case is postponed.
LaHood reiterated his five point plan, which includes re-evaluating how and when the office would seek plea agreements. He wants to experiment with not seeking plea agreements in cases involving guns or violent crime. He wants to assign specific prosecutors to specific neighborhoods so they would be familiar with the troublemakers high crime areas.
Lyons told an East Bluff resident that the deterioration of the inner city isn’t unique to Peoria and that his office is concerned about crime in older neighborhoods.
Lyons talked about how the state’s attorney’s is just part of the assembly line. He talked about the need for balance. At one point he talked dismissively of the general belief that people who commit crimes should go to jail and people who hurt other people need to go to prison. And he denied that his office seeks plea agreements more than other counties, and that judges also must sign off on them as well.
LaHood said the state’s attorney needs to operate under the belief he is the chief crime fighter in the county,
LaHood mentioned several times how he has been endorsed by police unions, saying it’s a reflection of how police officers feel about Lyons. Lyons mentioned that his office has prosecuted 23 police officers during his tenure in office and that he’s never sought police union endorsements or contributions because his office is “not for sale.”
Peorian General Parker, citing his accusation last year that the Peoria City Council violated the open meetings act, as well as another allegation against the Peoria School Board, asked Lyons about the need to prosecute everyone who violated the law, as well as poor black people.
Lyons would have none of it. He reminded the audience that Parker was the one who filed the complaint. He said that he agreed with Peoria City Attorney Randy Ray that no violation occurred, and said an Illinois Attorney General’s Office opinion to the contrary was wrong.
LaHood said all he knows about the complaint is what he saw in the news media. But he assured Parker — as did Lyons — that he would prosecute any time he thinks there’s a violation.
Click to enlarge.
