Former county board chairman speaks on state’s attorney race

Editor,
I am thoroughly disgusted by the direction the county government has been headed over the past four years. Divisive party politics has long been the norm in the state of Illinois, but on the county level, Fayette County has a long, proud history of its people and elected officials working together. Even worse, there is a smaller group, within the Republican party, who is not only very partisan, but they see the world in terms of friends versus enemies and think it is OK to use the power of their positions to attack political enemies and people they don’t like. As many of you know, this happened to me.
With the election coming, this is my opportunity to explain what happened with me and to encourage you to keep it from happening to others. I hope that you will agree with me that the state’s attorney is a bad apple that is causing a rot in the rest of the barrel. It is also my hope that you will exercise your right to vote and will deprive him of your vote at election time.
Fayette County is my home. I was raised here. I raised a family of my own here. I was fortunate to serve the citizens of Fayette County and the state of Illinois in law enforcement for 28½ years.
I served on the county board for 12 years, six of which I was the chairman. There is not much glory in either of these positions, but in them both I sought to fulfill the mission to protect and serve. The motto of the Illinois State Police is: Integrity, Service and Pride. I would like to think that I embodied that motto as an officer, on the county board and in person.
I was elected as a Republican; however, once elected I sought to serve all of my constituents, making decisions without political agendas in order to make Fayette County a better place to live. I, along with the other members of the board, thought it our job to keep a tight grip on the county’s purse strings, to keep spending down and taxes at a minimum.
We worked with office holders, but at one time or another, have told all of them no in requests for budget money. I did this with Mr. Morrison and quickly found myself on his enemies list.
During a finance committee meeting, Mr. Morrison informed the committee that he intended to fill a vacancy in his office, with Mr. Morrison’s best friend’s wife and pay her more than the pay rate set by the county board for non-union county employees. He also informed us that he intended to raise the salaries of the other employees over our objection that to do so: 1. Was more than the board was willing to budget and 2. It would create a rift between county office holders and county offices.
Two things happened; the friend’s wife was paid the higher wage without county board approval and I got marked as a political enemy.
In November, 2014, I encouraged the newly elected county clerk to fill a full-time vacancy in her office with a part-time employee of 26 years. In full disclosure, this employee is a personal friend; however, I believed she would make an excellent employee for the clerk and I thought with this employee’s experience and service as a part-time employee, she deserved consideration for a full-time position.
What happened next is almost unreal. The new clerk, supported by “witnesses” from the friends versus enemies group in the Republican party, made allegations that I did something wrong in speaking to the clerk. These allegations were false.
I want to believe the clerk overreacted to what she thought I might do rather than what I really did. The clerk took this to the state’s attorney and instead of getting us together and resolving the issue, I believe he saw this as his opportunity for payback for himself.
State’s Attorney Morrison took the complaint to the Illinois Attorney General, who declined the case. The state’s attorney then sought a second special prosecutor, who was willing to permit an investigation.
It is easy to say that being investigated is no big deal if you have done nothing wrong. It is much harder if you are the one being investigated. I didn’t know what lies I would need to defend myself against. I didn’t know if my word against theirs would be enough.
What I did know is a certain percentage of the population would believe I did something wrong just in hearing I was being investigated. Finally, the charge they chose to investigate me for placed me at risk of a felony and put my state pension in jeopardy. Long story short, the investigation was completed. The threats I was alleged to have made couldn’t be carried out without seven more votes from the county board and the special prosecutor closed the file with no charges.
My only recourse against this form of bare-knuckled politics is at the ballot box.
By the way, this is the same method my political opponents should have used against me.
I’ve given you my personal reason for wanting to see Mr. Morrison out of office. I don’t want him to get away with doing this and I don’t want to see it happen to others. However, this is hardly the only reason that Mr. Morrison has not earned reelection.
It is my opinion that what is being said in the campaign about Mr. Morrison’s lack of legal knowledge and skill is true. I have seen it first-hand. He was completely dependent on Amanda Ade-Harlow to handle court cases and advise the county board. When Ms. Ade-Harlow left the office, she took with her the expertise and ability that the county was depending on to run the office. What was left, in my opinion, is one of the least-effective state’s attorney’s offices I have seen in 28 years as a police officer.
It is my sincerest belief that re-electing Morrison is not best for the people of Fayette County. You have a much better alternative and should vote for Stephen Friedel in the current race for state’s attorney.
Stephen Knebel,
former Fayette County Board chairman