Steve Green, in a promotional pic for his law 'practice.' It's 'practice' because, as you can see, he never quite gets it right.
WILLIAMSON CO., Ill. - Information coming in from Williamson County voters seems to indicate that they're not real pleased about a particular judicial candidate, one whose quest for the bench has actually created some hilarity in certain circles...and grave concern in others.
That candidate would be Steve Green, the attorney who as of a few years ago didn't know that reporters can take photos of anybody they want to at city council meetings, a claim Green made in 2013 which prompted headlines here, here (if you have an online membership to the e-Edition Archives) and here.
Yeah. That's your judicial candidate.
Here's the first of letters written that we've obtained. We are withholding the names of those who've penned these; this one is dated October 7, 2018 and was actually posted on the writer's Facebook page (cleaned up a little bit for ease of reading):
FB friends, I'm going to break my own rule, by bringing up politics, on Facebook. Why? Because the local newspaper are ignoring it, with very few exceptions! Any citizen has access (to) these records, if requested, at the federal office in Benton. The ELEPHANT in the room is a byline to the reports of a federal lawsuit, filed by Illinois Star Centre, LLC (Marion Mall), versus the City of Marion, Illinois. Disclosure first reported on the "potential improprieties" involving the city, several years ago. I do not recall seeing anything about it in the Southern, or Marion Daily! Records of an amended complaint, filed by the mall on 8-16-18, detail many bonds and SSAs acquired by the city, worth many millions of dollars! The exact recipients of the funds is in question. There was a report on the case, by Channel 3, August 29, 2018.
Representing the city was the city attorney, Stephen R. Green, until September 25, 2017.
Lost in the limited reporting of the case is a motion filed by the mall on August 23, 2017. This motion to disqualify attorney, Mr. Green, was based on grounds of "Conflict of Interest." It seems that Mr. Green has been representing the mall for over seven years. Attorney Green, which I have known and trusted for years, drew up my will. When I filed suit against the city, Mr. Green "fired me as a client" to avoid conflict of interest. Therefore, I am confident that he understands the term! Federal Judge Laura K. Grandy made ruling on the motion, filed by Illinois Star Centre on September 25, 2017. As written by her, attorney Stephen R. Green "is hereby barred and precluded from representing defendant, the City of Marion, Illinois, in this matter."
I have "no personal grudge" with Mr. Green. However, when I think about him being a judge, I felt that I needed to speak up. How can you be expected to interpret the law, as judges are sworn to do, if you cannot practice the law to begin with?
Here's the second:
This candidate for Williamson County judge has total disregard for the rule of law! Mr. Stephen R. Green brought a frivolous lawsuit against me alleging me trespassing on a small lake adjacent to my property which I purchased in 1993. His claim is contradicted on my state of Illinois warranted deed signed by Mr. James Roy Patrick and recorded at the Williamson County Courthouse also in 1993. At trial, my attorney Richard Krueger began to introduce this deed and supporting IL statutes. Simultaneously, Judge Brad Bleyer threw up his hand and instructed Mr. Krueger to "stop right there, I don't want to hear it"! Unbelievable. Not being able to defend myself in a court of law with State of Illinois documents is obviously a violation of my Constitutional rights. These documents were the only defense we had to such a bogus claim from Mr. Green.
I felt raped by these two and believe this case was probably decided before it was actually filed. All of this is public record and can be corroborated. Having heard "integrity" and Mr. Green's name used in the same sentence throughout his campaign for judge is at best questionable. Stephen R. Green should not be elected judge of Williamson County! Help fight government corruption.
Who knows which way it's going to go. We're not stumping for one candidate over another. We're just saying that already, we have a judge who, just a few years before he was elected, didn't know FOIA law (Mike Molt, in Wayne County) and back five years ago, we had another Wayne Countian, Kevin Kakac (who's now the state's attorney), who had been seated temporarily as judge who was one of the few we're aware of who has been involved in a civil lawsuit while being a sitting judge (fortunately he's no longer a judge, but SA is bad enough.)
Scary times we're living in.