elect DAVID NELSON State's Attorney [primary campaign]

In response to the comprehensive drug court proposal outlined by Judge Lockwood in Thursday's paper, and supported by David Nelson, Candidate Phelps stated:

"If prosecutors will do their jobs and aggressively prosecute these drug cases, there will be no need for a drug court."

Phelps plans aggressive prosecution of drug offenders if he is elected, no matter what the court system looks like.

"The way I see it, I am running for county prosecutor, not county social worker. I am not trained in social work. If someone has violated the law, I am going to aggressively prosecute them," Phelps said.

"I can say as a prosecutor I am going to prosecute these guys, whether it is in a drug court or a regular court."

As previously mentioned, we are continuing to search for one of the criminal jury trials my opponent claims to have tried. The latest report is from St. Clair County, where the clerk's office advises that my opponent's attorney registration number does not appear anywhere in their criminal system, meaning that he could have tried no criminal jury trial there, either.

Just about first among the "Saline County values" I learned when I was growing up, as anybody who knows my mom and knew my dad can imagine, was to "tell the truth and shame the Devil." Truthfulness is also an essential value for an attorney. And voters are entitled to insist on the truth from a candidate for office.

Maybe one of his friends should ask him: "Mr. Phelps, exactly what criminal jury trials have you tried?" When you get an answer, let me know, and I'll publicize it here.

In a prepared statement released Tuesday, Democratic state’s attorney candidate David Nelson pledged his support for a new “drug court” approach to methamphetamine cases proposed for Saline County by Judge Brocton Lockwood.

“If I am elected,” said Nelson, “my office will cooperate fully with Judge Lockwood’s new program. As the judge explained it in meetings with local law enforcement and attorneys last week, no defendants convicted of meth offenses–even if they are first offenders—will be sentenced to probation unless they can prove that they have the ability to stay drug free.

“The drug court team will include probation officers, counsellors, and other professionals. Before a final sentence is imposed, defendants seeking probation will be required to spend time in jail and then submit to in-patient treatment. After that, they will have to prove that they can stay drug free (as confirmed by frequent testing), and that they have a drug-free place to live before they can even be considered to be allowed to stay in the community, as opposed to prison.

“Defendants who clear these initial stages could then be sentenced to an intensive form of probation, under strict conditions including frequent testing and frequent involvement with the drug court team.

“If a convicted defendant isn’t willing or able to meet the program’s requirements, then my office will be back in court recommending prison,” Nelson said.

Nelson also thinks more can and should be done to control methamphetamine manufacture on another front—the supply side. “We have to recognize that the main reason meth labs get set up in rural areas like ours,” Nelson said, “is the ready access to essential ingredients, especially anhydrous ammonia.

“If we are serious about ending the methamphetamine plague in our area, we need to take a hard look at ways to shut down easy access to anhydrous ammonia, which is now just sitting out there ripe for the plucking in farmers’ fields. Maybe we could start thinking of it as a ‘farmland security’ program,” Nelson said.

Nelson added that he did not think of methamphetamine as a campaign issue. “A solution to this problem really will require a team approach. Everybody knows that meth is bad, but wishing won’t make it go away. Nobody has all the answers. It’s going to take clear thinking and hard work on the part of many people of good will—including police, prosecutors, judges, and the general public—before the methamphetamine problem can be solved.”

The Code of Fair Campaign Practices, to which I have subscribed, is a purely voluntary statement of "basic principles of decency, honesty, and fair play that every candidate for public office in the State of Illinois has a moral obligation to observe and uphold, in order that, after vigorously contested but fairly conducted campaigns, our citizens may exercise their constitutional right to a free and untrammeled choice and the will of the people may be fully and clearly expressed on the issues."

I've had two calls from friends and relatives recently about false stories making the rounds about me.

The first had something to do with me supposedly taking a stand in favor of gay marriage. In fact, to the best of my recollection, I've never said a word about it, publicly or privately. And of course it's not an issue likely to come before the Saline County state's attorney.

The best I can figure, this story may stem from a conversation I had with former Republican legislative candidate Darla Partridge the other day at the counter at the circuit clerk's office. I was there to file a document in a court file for a client, and I arrived as employees were signing petitions Mrs. Partridge was circulating. She politely asked me if I would like to sign the petitions. When I saw that they were urging some kind of constitutional amendment, I said something to the effect of "No, I don't think so, I don't take amending the Constitution lightly." She responded, "I wish they would follow the Constitution," to which I agreed.

Story Number Two came yesterday. A woman saying good things about me was told that the reason I resigned as a judge was that I was about to be removed from office. That is totally untrue, as may be quickly confirmed by asking Saline County Presiding Circuit Judge Bruce D. Stewart or First Circuit Chief Judge Michael J. Henshaw.

What will they think of next?

As previously mentioned here, we've been trying, so far unsuccessfully, to find even one of the criminal jury trials my opponent claims to have had.

An examination of the circuit clerk's records in Williamson County reveals no criminal jury trials there, either. Mr. Phelps did appear as the attorney for a criminal defendant charged with methamphetamine manufacture, but that client pleaded guilty to possession of meth, and was placed on first-offender probation just last month, on January 30, 2004. (Williamson County Case No. 03-CF-326)

So, to recap: he claims as experience more than 25 "civil and criminal" jury trials. As to criminal jury trials, the scorecard so far is as follows:

---Saline County, zero.
---Williamson County, zero.
---Jackson County, zero.
---Southern District of Illinois (federal court), zero.
---Gallatin County, zero.
---Hardin County, zero.
---White County, zero.

Investigation continues into trials claimed in Mt. Vernon, Belleville, Springfield, and Chicago.

This coming Saturday, February 28th, from 6:00 to 10:00 a.m., the Committee to Elect David Nelson is hosting a Meet the Candidate event at the Community Center in Eldorado. This is not a fundraiser.

We'll have free doughnuts, coffee, and juice. Bring the kids! (We'll have milk, too.)

I'll be there all morning to meet people and find out their concerns about issues involving the state's attorney's office.

I hope everybody who is supporting me, wherever you live in the county, will drop by and show your support (even if you're not eating doughnuts). And I especially ask you to invite your family and friends who haven't decided who they're voting for, so they can get a look at me and see what I'm like in person.

If you need a ride, call Mona at 841-8787, and she'll take care of it.

(There will be a similar event the following Saturday, March 6th, at the Harrisburg Lions Club. More about that later.)

When I was a child, we were told the story about young George Washington chopping down the cherry tree, and then admitting it to his father upon interrogation, with the statement "I cannot tell a lie."

Nowadays, historians tell us that story itself was not true, but was an invention by a man named Parson Meems, attempting to make the Father of His Country (indisputably an admirable character) a less "bland heroic leader, embodying an eighteenth-century ideal of republican virtue that emphasized duty, sacrifice and honorable disinterest."

Isn't it too bad that the plain facts aren't enough in campaigns for public office, without the felt necessity to gild the lily?

In an Eric Fodor story in today's Daily Register, Monty Field is quoted as saying that Republicans may name a candidate by caucus, even though no Republican filed petitions to run in the primary. Field reportedly said that "several attorneys have expressed interest."

As diligent readers of this weblog know, I have emphasized repeatedly that it is very likely that whoever wins the Democratic primary nomination will be our next state's attorney.

My opponent has been running an endorsement from our former representative and former county clerk Jim Fowler touting his "values." I keep wondering if according to those values it's OK to stretch the truth a wee bit about your experience.

As previously mentioned, the Phelps campaign has been disseminating claims that he has “tried over 25 criminal and civil jury trials in State and Federal Court,” naming various jurisdictions.

No doubt he has sat at counsel table, either by himself or with a senior partner, during some personal injury or other civil cases since he graduated from law school in 1995.

What I wonder is where he tried any criminal jury trials? Not here in Saline County. No cases of any kind, much less any trials, in Jackson County. No criminal trials in Gallatin or Hardin counties, so far as the clerks' offices can find. Nothing criminal in federal court in Benton or East St. Louis. I'm still checking in Williamson and Jefferson counties. I haven't done any checking yet in St. Clair, Sangamon, or Cook, the other counties where Mr. Phelps's ads claim he has tried jury cases.

Maybe Mr. Phelps can make it easy for us and just tell us where and when he ever tried a criminal case to a jury, and what the outcome was.

Of course there's nothing shameful about a relative lack of experience. Everybody has to start somewhere, and some lawyers go through an entire career without ever trying a criminal jury trial.

But what the voters deserve to know is the extent to which a candidate for state's attorney is willing to pad his record to try to win an election.

State’s attorney candidate and former judge David Nelson was the speaker at the regular meeting of the Harrisburg Kiwanis Club Wednesday.

Nelson reminisced about the early days of the Kiwanis baseball program, run by his late father, Charlie Nelson. Speaking on what would have been his father’s 85th birthday, Nelson said his best preparation for being a judge was umpiring in the Kiwanis league, and watching the calm, fair way that his father dealt with disputes.

“Baseball was a very important part of my early education, along with McKinley School, and McKinley Avenue Baptist Church, and the Mitchell-Carnegie library, and all the great teachers that it seems in retrospect the Harrisburg school system was blessed with,” Nelson said.

Nelson recounted all the ways in which he has been fortunate in his life, and said “I think a person who’s been this fortunate ought to pay something back to the community. The way I think I can do that, here and now, is to be a candidate for state’s attorney.”

Nelson said he did not want to re-hash all the recent problems and controversies in Saline County, but that “Recent events made it appear to me that the county needs somebody without entanglements with any political machine who can represent the interests of all the people of the county and give independent legal advice to county officials.

“And I know from years of experience in the courtroom,” Nelson added, “that we need somebody at the prosecutor’s table who can hold his own with the best criminal defense lawyers. I think I’m qualified to fill that bill.”

Nelson said he did not have any ambition for higher office, and no interest in founding a political dynasty.

The program closed with questions from the members. To a question about methamphetamine, Nelson said that it was a serious problem which should not be reduced to political sloganeering. He is of the opinion that a good deal can done on the supply side by making the essential ingredients ammonia and pseudoephedrine less accessible to meth manufacturers.

In response to a remark from a Kiwanian, Nelson recounted an incident which occurred in Hardin County a few years ago, in which he was asked by authorities to go into the woods near the Garden of the Gods and surrender a surrounded suspect.

Next week the speaker at Kiwanis will be Judge Brocton Lockwood.

I really appreciate the kind comments from Judy Cape and Roy Small in their letters to the editor, and similar expressions of support from many others over the past 10 weeks. But as Roy said:

". . . the most qualified person does not automatically get the job. He has to get the most votes in the primary election."

If you know anybody who is not registered to vote, today is the last day to get the job done. The county clerk's office will be open an extra hour, until 5:00 p.m., for last-minute registrations.

The Daily Register ran the following two letters about the election on Monday, Feb. 16, under the headline "Final day: Political candidate letters reach end." The newspaper had indicated earlier that publication of letters about the election would cease 30 days prior to the election. As a practical matter, this policy of the paper means if something important comes up in the last 30 days which is not dealt with in news coverage, you'd have to buy advertising space to respond to it. "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty."

Letter No. 1

To the Editor:

On March 16, voters in Saline County have a real choice in the Democratic candidates for state's attorney. David Nelson has the requisite life experience and the practical work experience to meet the demands of this office. He has lived the justice system on both sides of the bench, as a seeker of justice and a dispenser of justice.

The state's attorney decides which defendants should be brought to trial, which should be plea bargained out and which cannot be successfully prosecuted. Who better than a former judge would know the level of proof required to successfully convict a criminal defendant?

Saline County also needs an independent state's attorney who is not associated with a political machine in order to ensure that equal justice for all is a reality and not just a phrase. In my opinion we have that in David Nelson.

Judy Cape
Harrisburg


Letter No. 2

To the Editor:

As a lifelong Saline County Democrat and former member of the Illinois General Assembly, I was pleased to see that David Nelson is running for state's attorney of Saline County in the Democratic primary coming up on March 16.

We could not ask for a more qualified state's attorney to succeed Rod Wolf, who has decided not to run again. David Nelson is an experienced criminal lawyer, and he was a judge for many years. He has tried many criminal cases, and has presided over many more. I have known him and his family for many years. His honesty and integrity are unquestioned.

But the most qualified person does not automatically get the job. He has to get the most votes in the primary election. Judge Nelson's opponent is a young member of the politically potent Phelps family --- which includes our current state representative, Brandon Phelps; David Phelps, our former Congressman and now an employee of the Blagojevich administration; the newly appointed manager of the Saline Valley Conservancy District, Larry Phelps; and the current state's attorney of White County, David Phelps's son-in-law, Kerry Sutton.

Saline County Democrats --- and citizens of all persuasions --- need to ask themselves whether this one family should also control the all-important Saline County state's attorney's office.

Fortunately, in my opinion, there is a better choice. I think David Nelson would be an outstanding and truly independent state's attorney.

I'll be voting for him on March 16.

Roy Small
Harrisburg

I see the other candidate for state’s attorney, in a letter mailed out to my mother and no doubt others, claims that he has “tried over 25 criminal and civil jury trials in State and Federal Court.” May be. But I don’t think he has ever tried a criminal case to a jury in Saline or Williamson county since his graduation from law school in 1995. And I’d be interested to hear if he has ever won a criminal jury case anywhere. (I expect that if he had, we would already have heard about it.)

As for the implication that I would not be an aggressive prosecutor, but would just “slap the wrists” of convicted criminals, let me just say this: I have actually been involved in real criminal trials. I have had many years’ experience as a lawyer and judge handling actual criminal cases. I have examined hundreds of witnesses in criminal trials. I have argued, and ruled on, motions raising complex issues of constitutional criminal law. I have tried criminal cases to jury verdicts. I have successfully defended people who were falsely charged. And I have sentenced deserving offenders aplenty to prison. In one case a few years ago here in Saline County, I gave a killer even more time than the state’s attorney asked for–and I believe the defendant deserved every minute of the 105 years I gave him.

One thing in my opponent’s letter is rather disturbing. That is the assertion that “every law enforcement agency in Saline County is supporting” him. I hope this was simply the over-exuberance of a zealous political operative, and not the considered statement of my opponent, who is after all a member of the bar and a General Baptist clergyman. Obviously, it would be improper for a law enforcement agency to take a position for or against a candidate in a political contest, and I rather doubt that my opponent intended to make such a charge against the heads of the local police departments.

I certainly don’t quarrel with the fact that meth is a serious problem, and our police officers are justifiably concerned about it. The question for the voters is which candidate is most likely to do something effective about meth and the other problems facing our county, not just talk about them in a political campaign.

No doubt on-the-job training is best. But a trainee shouldn’t start at the top of the totem pole. Anyone asking you for your support for state’s attorney should have demonstrated by his or her past behavior an interest in and an aptitude for criminal law. If not, Saline County could be in for a long four years.

Sincerely,
David Nelson
Democratic Candidate for State’s Attorney

Absentee voting has started; 119 Saline County voters had requested absentee ballots by Friday afternoon: 97 D, 21 R, 1 non-party (presumably so as to vote only on the proposed "safety tax").

I was asked at the chili supper Thursday evening what is the last day to vote absentee: by mail, it is not less than 5 days prior to the election, that is, by March 11th; in person, you can vote absentee at the county clerk's office up to the day before the election, or March 15th.

Born and raised in Harrisburg.
Harvard College, A.B.
Peace Corps volunteer.
Teacher, editor, social worker.
SIU School of Law, J.D.
Illinois bar, 1976 to present.
Judicial clerk, Appellate Court of Illinois.
U.S. Supreme Court bar, 1979 to present.
Fellow, Illinois Bar Foundation.
Law enforcement instructor, SIC.
Illinois Judges Association.
Associate Circuit Judge, 1984-1999.
Member, Campaign for Equal Justice.

Experience. Integrity. Independence.

Paid for by the Committee to Elect David Nelson

Thanks to Christy Stewart, HHS Class of '07, for the photography (although I don't know why she had to make me look old, fat, and bald!).

According to information appearing in Friday's Daily Register/Journal, here are the polling places for the March 16th primary (all of which are handicapped accessible):

Brushy: Town House

All Carrier Mills precincts: New Carrier Mills Grade School

Cottage: SIC Building C

Rector and all Eldorado precincts: Eldorado High School cafeteria (Illinois Ave.)

Both Galatia precincts: New Community Center

Harrisburg 8: Muddy Village Hall

All other Harrisburg precincts: Harrisburg High School Davenport Gym

Independence: Town House

Long Branch: Town House

Mountain: Camp Oxford

Both Raleigh precincts: Community Center

Stonefort: New Village Hall

Tate: Town House

All polling places will be open from 6:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. on March 16.

If you have any question about your polling place, or about voting by absentee ballot, call the Saline County Clerk, Willie McClusky, at 253-8197.

We had a good turnout for our chili supper last night. Thanks to everybody who came and enjoyed the good food and fellowship and the great music by keyboard player Jim Smith, saxophonist Greg Hodson, and vocalist Melinda Tolley--in fact the music was so good that I didn't even interrupt them to make a political speech.

Thanks to everybody who contributed money toward the campaign.

And special thanks to Mona and Roger and Susan and Shelby and Heather and Butch and Jim and everybody else who helped make things run smoothly.

Monday is a state holiday, so after today there's only one more day to register to vote in the March 16th primary: Tuesday, February 17, is the last day to register. If you know anybody who's still not registered, let them know right away.

We're expecting a nice crowd, and Jim Smith has promised to be there and play some music for us.

Speaking of the arts, I received a bit of verse today from a poet who wished to remain anonymous. I told him or her that some discerning reader would probably figure out his or her identity from the style and choice of words. A selection:

"In a way it's kind of funny
Ole Dave should lend his name
To the race for state's attorney
In the county of Saline
Where decorum's on the gurney
And the politics are mean . . . ."

You can find the entire work here.

Since no Republican filed petitions for state's attorney, it is very likely that whoever wins this Democratic primary nomination 40 days from now, on March 16th, will be our next state's attorney, to take office for a four-year term commencing December 1, 2004.

To have a say in your county government, you have to put aside whatever reluctance you have to vote in the primary.

Why should I go out of my way to vote for David Nelson as the Democratic nominee for Saline County state's attorney?

--Because he has 27 years' experience in the courtroom, as lawyer and judge.

--Because he is a person of integrity who cannot be bought.

--Because he is independent of any political faction, and can make decisions in the best interests of all the people of Saline County. As he said when he announced his candidacy:

"At this stage of my career, I’m not looking for a stepping-stone to higher office, and I’m not looking to create a political dynasty. I’m a Democrat. But I never let politics interfere with any judicial decision I made, and I was careful to follow the rules of judicial conduct which forbid political activity. I don’t think we need a partisan approach to county government from the state’s attorney, who is supposed to be the attorney for all the people. And, for that matter, we don’t need a respecter of persons for any reason—race, religion, gender, social class, or personal or family ties.

"If I am elected, my only agenda will be to uphold the constitution and laws, and to do my best to make the citizens of this county proud of their state’s attorney’s office."

According to County Clerk Willie McClusky, the ballots for the primary election are in the final stages of proofreading, approval, and printing. Once that process is completed, applications for absentee ballots will be distributed to those requesting them, starting some time next week.

Because of the anticipated consolidation of polling places, it is reasonable to expect that many people will be confused about what precinct they are in ("I know where I've always voted, but I don't know what number it is"), and that confusion may lead to a reduced turnout for the March 16th election.

If you know any older or disabled people who have difficulty getting to the polls, suggest that they call the county clerk's office (253-8197) to find out about voting by an absentee ballot.

The Illinois Election Code permits a registered voter who expects to be absent from the county on election day, or who is unable to be present at the polls because of a physical incapacity, to apply for an absentee ballot.

Also, now is the time to be making sure that every eligible voter you know is registered in time to vote in this primary. See this earlier post for details.

A letter to the editor from a Republican about the Democratic primary race for state's attorney in Monday's Daily Register stated that "Our current County Board is still struggling with the financial disasters of the prior party's longtime control."

Without getting into things I don't know anything about, I do know that last September, before I had decided to run for state's attorney, I wrote a letter to the county board (this current county board) questioning their authority to pay outside attorneys for work which by law the state's attorney is supposed to do. I had no response from any board member, Democrat or Republican. [I have added my letter here.]

According to an article in Saturday's Daily Register/Daily Journal, plans are underway to change polling places for the March 16th primary: all Harrisburg, Eldorado, Galatia, and Carrier Mills precincts are expected to vote at the towns' respective high schools.