Endorsement: Mosser for Kane County state's attorney

Whoever wins the Democratic primary for Kane County state's attorney will have surmounted a foothill, with a mountain still ahead.

Robert Spence, 64, of Batavia, is that mountain. He is unopposed in March for the Republican nomination. Spence was a prosecutor and then a judge in Kane County before becoming chief judge in the 16th Judicial Circuit and then a justice in the Second Appellate Court.

He retired to run for state's attorney to replace Republican Joe McMahon, who has been state's attorney for 10 years and decided to leave the post for private practice.

With that backdrop, our thoughts lead us to ask who could best climb that mountain between March 17 and Nov. 3.

Jamie Mosser, 42, of St. Charles, is a private practice attorney who spent 10 years as a prosecutor in the Kane County state's attorney's office.

She's worked in most of the divisions within the office, ending up as supervisor of the domestic violence division. In private practice for four years since then, she has rounded out her perspective on such things as domestic violence and family law.

Junaid "J" Afeef, 50, of Elgin, comes at the race from a public defender's point of view.

He has spent more than a decade working on criminal justice reform. Much of his platform centers on eradicating mass incarceration through diversion programs, turning people away from crime before they commit them and reducing sentences.

Both candidates find the current bail system problematic in that it favors people with the ability to pay.

Mosser is the candidate who knows the office and knows the people who make it run. She has a passion for prosecution and, with her private practice work, a greater sense for what happens to those who are prosecuted.

That's a strong combination.

Whoever faces Spence in the fall will need the kind of head start Mosser has.

Mosser is endorsed.