SAFE-T Act takes center stage in Kane County State’s Attorney debate

Kane County State’s Attorney Jamie Mosser and her Republican challenger Andrew Sosnowski, both made the case for being the best choice in the Nov. 5 general election.

Mosser and Sosnowski fielded questions at a League of Women Voters forum Tuesday, Oct. 1 at Batavia City Hall.

Mosser, seeking a second term, said, “The way that I ran my office has always been (about) fairness and balance and justice.”

“Not every single person needs to go to jail to be held accountable,” Mosser said. “We have to look at every case individually. We have to look at every fact, every history that a person comes in (with) and we must always ask, ‘Why?’ And that’s exactly what I have done over the last four years.”

Mosser cited her innovative programming and vertical prosecution structure that allows for assistant state’s attorneys to work in teams and become specialized in handling certain types of cases.

“The best candidate for this continues to be me and I will work hard for Kane County,” Mosser said.

Countering her, Sosnowski said he was the candidate who is “looking at victims and victims’ rights and victims’ families – I place that above all else.”

“I’m running because I see progressive policies that are coming from Springfield, maybe Chicago, that do not truly reflect our values and needs in Kane County, starting to grow and starting to make our communities less safe,” Sosnowski said. “We need to stand up and protect our citizens from anything that’s coming here that doesn’t truly reflect who we are as people.”

If elected, Sosnowski said he would look at the policies.

“Many of the policies started by my opponent are not needed for this county for this time,” Sosnowski said. ”They do not reflect our values.”

SAFE-T ACT

Mosser recounted the legislative battle over the 2021 SAFE-T Act that abolished cash bail in Illinois.

“I was one of the only Democrats that was allowed to be at the negotiation table to fix a law that had good intentions, but was poorly written,” Mosser said.

Sosnowski criticized the SAFE-T Act as “a horrible piece of legislation.”

“It’s legislation with good intent, but I would ask government to put a moratorium (on it) immediately because it’s...making our communities more dangerous,” Sosnowski said. “I do not believe in pandering to different people in order to drastically affect public safety.”

As to how she would change the SAFE-T Act, Mosser said, “I need three hours and a PowerPoint.”

She said the biggest issue would be to increase the number of categories under which you can detain a suspect from the current limit of 10.

As to repeat offenders, Mosser said, “We need to be able to have triggers in place for a person who continues to commit that crime over and over again, so that we can also provide treatment and help for them.”

Sosnowski disagreed.

“My mother used to say to me, ‘You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.’ And the SAFE-T Act is a sow’s ear,” Sosnowski said. “It had good intention, but it’s drastically affecting our communities. You ask...law enforcement officers, people are being arrested and released and they’re not coming to court.”

Safer communities

As to what role the State’s Attorney’s Office has in making communities safer, Sosnowski said the chief prosecutor needs to bring community resources together.

“In my campaign even, I’ve gone north to south, east to west, talking to many organizations...that deal with mental health, with drug addiction, with developmental disabilities,” Sosnowski said. “The homeless crisis is huge.”

Mosser said by elected position and statute, prosecutors and police officers are supposed to do deflection programs, which “means law enforcement should be able to partner with the State’s Attorney’s Office” so that a person has access to resources instead of being arrested.

“I created Illinois’ only arrest diversion program and that is a program I am extremely proud of,” Mosser said. “We helped a lot of people and are going to continue to do that. It was primarily grant-funded and it partners with police officers. So when a police officer realizes a person is committing a crime due to mental health issues, substance use disorder or lack of resources – instead of the criminal justice system, we send them to our grant-funded case manager.”

That assistance helps keep people out of the criminal justice system, Mosser said.

Important skills

To a question about the most important skills for a state’s attorney should be empathy, communication and tenacity, Mosser said.

“We have to be able to talk to everybody,” Mosser said. “My 196 employees, all of the elected officials I represent, all of the community. And I think the other thing is tenacity to want to do what’s right for justice. And that’s what I’ve done over the last four years.”

In addition to trying cases herself, Mosser has told elected officials when they are wrong.

Sosnowski said the State’s Attorney’s Office needs to be independent, “not beholden to law enforcement” but to be partners.

“My opponent has connected herself very closely with the current Kane County Sheriff. She gave him $10,000 in his campaign rebid. And there are several cases that his office is involved in that are supposed to be investigated.” Sosnowski said.

Mosser disputed his characterization.

“To comment on Mr. Sosnowski’s opinion that somehow I am beholden to our sheriff because I supported a sheriff who brought mental health funding into our jail. Who brought in drug treatment and that has made a huge difference,” Mosser said. “I recently had to publicly oppose him. I am beholden to no one.”

Mosser was referring to the death of K-9 Hudson in May 2023 where Sheriff Hain claimed that Aurora police did not partner with his office, which led to the shooting death of the dog and a carjacking suspect. In a news release, Mosser said she disagreed with Hain and did not fault the City of Aurora or its police department for what happened.

As to when a state’s attorney should be recused from a case, Sosnowski said the question to ask is, “Do you have a stake in the outcome of that particular conflict?”

“There were several cases where I questioned whether my opponent should be involved in prosecution,” Sosnowski said. “If someone has a stake in the outcome of that particular conflict, there should be a recusal. And that person should be representing the people of the state of Illinois.”

Mosser countered that recusal comes from an actual conflict of interest, not a “stake” as her opponent described it.

“As the state’s attorney over the last four years, I have recused myself on cases when there was an actual conflict of interest,” Mosser said.

The Leagues of Women Voters of the Aurora Area, Elgin Area, and Central Kane County co-hosted the forum.

The Leagues have scheduled another forum at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 9.

The forums from Sept. 30, Oct. 1 and the upcoming one will all be posted on BATV at mybatv.com and on the IL Voter Guide website illinoisvoterguide.org.