The most dangerous judges aren’t corrupt. They’re overconfident, they strive for mediocrity, and they’re untroubled by consequences. — Jeff Ward
Frustrated by the lack of opportunities to demean and belittle the people foolish enough to appear in his courtroom, Kane County Circuit Judge Kevin Busch is retiring to pursue other endeavors.
I’m told his next stops include moderating the “What’s Happening In” Facebook pages, where the opportunities to apply a needlessly corrective tone and gratuitous scolding are far more abundant than they were on the bench. His plans also involve working nights in the Blue Cross Blue Shield Prior-Authorization Department, where saying no with a persistently impeccable petty bitchiness is not only encouraged, but institutionalized.
I’m convinced Kevin will not only succeed, but flourish in those environments.
In all seriousness, to say that Kevin Busch won’t be missed is an understatement along the lines of the Uvalde police response “fell short.”
And whenever a circuit or associate judge retires, their replacement is anointed by one of three methods. In this case, the decision falls squarely into Second Judicial District Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Rochford’s hands. The candidate list isn’t as long as the typical black-robe-seeking rabble, but that shortfall in numbers is more than made up for by an impressive lack of quality—with one obvious exception we’ll get into shortly.
The majority of the applicants exist so low on the attorney spectrum they have absolutely no shot. But there are two hopefuls who’ve managed to make the kind of minimal name for themselves that they might actually be considered, but neither is qualified to judge a second-grade science fair, much less preside over a courtroom.
Our first pretender is five-term Elgin City Councilman John Steffen, the very embodiment of political and legal mediocrity. After nearly two decades of “public service,” I challenge you to name a single tangible Steffen accomplishment—aside from his tireless efforts to turn Elgin into a private playground for his self-appointed “elite” friends.
I won’t waste your time waiting for an answer, because what truly disqualifies him from that position is this.
After making the most dire public proclamations about the disease and advertising his apocalyptic fear for his elderly father during the height of COVID, revelers captured this shot of Councilman Steffen manning the door at a packed 2021 State Rep. Anna Moeller fundraiser. What’s that resting around John’s chin? Why, his mask, of course.
Apparently, his fear for his father’s life only went so far and the rules he so boldly trumpeted on the city council dais were solely intended for his plebeian constituency. So no! A “public servant” who displays this kind of blatant hypocrisy and incredibly bad judgment has no business on the bench.
Oh! And since we’re on the subject, “serving” five terms on any government body is more than enough for anyone. In the words of the great Bubba Ray Taterfield, “John! Don’t let the screen door hitcha where the good Lord splitcha.”
Then we go straight downhill with Kane County State’s Attorney Jamie Mosser rounding out our judicial naughty list. The truth is, John can’t help but be unremarkable, but Ms. Mosser actively embraces a weaponized ineptitude.
Here is a list of Mosser’s greatest hits as it stands right now:
1. Campaigning with a sitting judge, and a bad one at that.
Most of us figured out that absurd conflict of interest about the same time we learned how to use the right bathroom in kindergarten.
2. Attempting to charge a family with harboring radioactive dinnerware.
When your original probation agreement is so indefensibly bad, don’t defend it! Don’t panic! No! Simply invent a health scare, indict a china cabinet, and force a family to spend yet more money on attorneys to compensate for your office’s gross incompetence.
3. A ridiculous double standard.
Mosser pursued Campton Hills trustee hopeful Tim Morgan and his twenty-year-old Michigan DUI charge as if it were a terrorist threat, while she treated a three-time felony drunk driver like a scheduling conflict. That isn’t justice. It’s selective indignation. It would seem that Kane County prosecutorial priorities resemble less the fair administration of justice than a hobby bureaucrats engage in to pass the time before applying for the next judicial vacancy.
4. She let a violent sex offender stroll out of court.
A man charged with multiple counts of violent sexual assault didn’t walk because of a legal technicality. He walked because Mosser’s prosecutors treated the briefing as if it were optional, and Judge Sarang believed that paying attention was merely discretionary.
5. Then Mosser doubled down on her poor choice of associates.
After determining that campaigning with a sitting judge wasn’t nearly bad enough, Mosser broadened her ethical experiment by dating an Elgin police detective. Nothing says “prosecutorial independence” quite like pillow talk with law enforcement. This one doesn’t begin to pass the laugh test because any remedial 12-year-old understands the problem.
6. Mosser and her office were the proximate cause of Tom Hartwell’s death.
Though it’s difficult to choose, this is the worst example of Mosser’s lack of good judgment. She consistently fails to understand that the human cost of prosecutorial indifference is not theoretical, and thus, Tom Hartwell’s suicide did not occur in a vacuum.
U.S. Attorney General and eventual Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson warned us, “The prosecutor has more control over life, liberty, and reputation than any other person in America.” And Jamie Mosser demonstrated exactly what can happen when that power is exercised without heart, without restraint, and without accountability. And a State’s Attorney’s Office without heart doesn’t merely fail the people; it consumes them. Prosecutorial overreach here, ignoring consequences there, and then she has the cojones to call it “justice.” If this is leadership, then it’s the kind that leaves scars while calmly insisting that it’s standard operating procedure.
Now Tom Hartwell, a good but flawed man, is dead as a direct result of her callous lack of concern. I hope Ms. Mosser doesn’t believe in a Christian God, because it’s not going to go very well for her if she does.
I could continue, but we both have better things to do.
The bottom line is, not only should Jamie Mosser NEVER be considered for judge, she shouldn’t be allowed to serve as the part-time Wasco Assistant Deputy Fence Permit Reviewer. And I’m going to ensure that Justice Rochford is aware of each and every one of these inexcusable lapses.
But there is a light at the end of our pitch black legal tunnel, my friends, and it comes in the form of 16th Circuit Associate Judge Julia Yetter, who’s also applied for Busch’s soon-to-be vacant seat. Why Yetter? Aside from already being a judge, it’s simple.
When I inadvertently became the journalistic clearing house for every goddamn Kane County judicial complaint—we’re talking hundreds of emails which I continue to receive to this day—I was the lucky recipient of a grievance involving almost every single goddamned 16th Circuit judge. One of those rare exceptions was, and continues to be, Judge Yetter.
Before you give me any crap you ungrateful bastards, judge is the kind of job that makes it impossible to slide into a Steffen-esque blissful obscurity. You’re either a good judge or you’re not. And Yetter has served in the kind of family and felony courtrooms that fully preclude blending in with the scenery.
C’mon! I get at least one complaint about Judge DiGiovanni every day, and another about Judge Tegeler every other day. (That’s satire and hyperbole, for you stupid motherfuckers who can’t tell the difference.) But there hasn’t been single complaint about Judge Yetter. Nada, none, bupkis, zilch, zero, and that’s really saying something.
The choice is clear, Justice Rochford.
Author’s note:
Writing this column was so much fun that it’s, once again, time to start paying far more attention to our judiciary.
