CLAY CO., Ill. - As is the usual course, the assistant state's attorney in Clay County has been bumped up to the office of state's attorney after the duly-elected state's attorney was bumped up to judge.
In the 16 years we've been covering southeastern Illinois, we've lost count of how many times this wheel rotates: Judge retires with massive pension; current state's attorney ascends to vacated judicial seat; assistant state's attorney ascends to vacated state's attorney's seat. So it is in Clay: Judge Robin Todd retires; State's Attorney Joel Powless gets appointed judge after only two years in office; assistant state's attorney gets appointed state's attorney.
This particular merry-go-round also has the added benefit of yet another common Illinois feature: Name familiarity.
It was announced Wednesday (February 27) at the Clay County full board meeting that the new state's attorney has been appointed; it's Andrew Koester, who's been assisting Powless in the state's attorney's office. Folks in the Fourth Judicial Circuit will recognize the name as also belonging to their chief judge, Kim Koester, who's also the resident judge in Effingham County. While published reports don't indicate that Andrew is any relation of Koester's, let's be frank: He probably is.
The other interesting facet of these gyrations is the timeline of the law licenses. There was some concern expressed when Powless was running for state's attorney over the fact that he'd only passed the bar four years prior to taking office. Now, the same concern is being expressed over Koester: He's only had his law license since 2015. How much experience he's had in that time is difficult to quantify, as in any lawyer's practice unless they've been around for a decade or more.
The fortunate thing for Clay Countians is that Koester is a Republican, so hopefully he'll bring a more conservative approach to the office and ensure that crimes are met with the prosecution they deserve.
We wish him the best.