Putnam County State's Attorney

Via Peoria Journal-Star

(Norman) Raffety, who had been elected to five consecutive terms beginning in 1980, was edged out in the 2000 Democratic primary by Mindy Sammons. She later was defeated by (James) Mack, a Peru native who had been practicing privately and serving as an assistant public defender in Putnam County for the previous five years.

Mack says he's proven himself to be an effective and more aggressive prosecutor than his predecessor as reflected in both the number of felony cases prosecuted and the convictions in comparable 42-month periods of their respective terms.

"Through the hard work of law enforcement and the assistance of the community, I have raised the felony conviction rate 31 percent, while prosecuting 64 percent more cases as compared to the prior office holder," Mack said. "I feel like I'm a tough-on-crime prosecutor, no matter what your name or background is."

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Raffety disputes his opponent's claims of being a more aggressive prosecutor. If there have been more felony cases, that's simply an indication the crime rate has been increasing in recent years, he said.

"That means there's even more of a need for real experience in a prosecutor," Raffety said.

"I think Mr. Mack is still in the early stages of his learning curve."
Raffety added he has gotten some additional and extremely valuable experience in that regard in his role as an assistant state's attorney in Lee County. He said the volume and diversity of cases he's handled will make him an even better prosecutor in his home county.

Yeah, I was kinda leaning with Raffety on that......more crime equals more convictions. Guess you'd have to pull the police records from the county to see who's the better prosecuter