Less than two weeks remain until early voting starts for a key local election that will virtually be decided with the primary.
The race for Knox County State’s Attorney pits local attorney and Galesburg City Council Member Jeremy Karlin against incumbent John Pepmeyer who has held the post for 9 years.
Karlin envisions himself being a “roll-up shirtsleeves” style of State’s Attorney.
He says part of this is prosecuting the hard cases but tells WGIL that it also involves being involved with community to create crime prevention strategies.
“If we wait for people to mess up it’s too late,” Karlin says. “Our resources are better spent coming up with an approach that identifies people that are at risk and giving them assistance to maintain and lead a lawful life.”
He says that he would not allow any probation for gun crimes but Pepmeyer says that every case is different.
“You know you’d like to blanket every case and tell them ‘this is the way it’s going to happen’ ,” Pepmeyer says. “Well, it’s easier said than done but no one can challenge the fact that we have been hard with felons who have been convicted previously and are now charged with weapons.”
Early voting runs Feb. 4 through Mar. 12 with Primary Election Day on Mar. 15th
