Three Candidates Compete to be St. Charles Municipal Judge

On April 5, St. Charles residents will elect a new municipal judge. 

Current municipal judge Dan Barklage decided not to seek re-election after serving in the post for 10 years. His plan to step down prompted three people to seek the open seat: Richard Veit, who currently serves as the Ward 1 City Councilman, William Lohmar, former St. Charles County Circuit Judge, and Paul Kaiser, a criminal attorney with judicial experience.

All three of the candidates reside in the City of St. Charles, a requirement for the four-year position. The new judge will earn $42,000 a year, a pay increase approved by the St. Charles City Council in 2010. 

Richard Veit, an attorney whose four-year term on the St. Charles City Council will end in April, said he's running because he wants to encourage younger offenders to make better decisions.

If elected, Veit said he would look into creating a program to allow offenders to do community service in the city.

"It could be available for those people who couldn't pay fines," he said. "In a situation where somebody would be a normal candidate for probation, instead of just putting them on probation, it would be a probation and X amount of community service."

Although William Lohmar retired as St. Charles Circuit Court Judge in December, he said he feels as though he's on the top of his game and wants to stay involved. Lohmar has returned to private practice but said he has the luxury of picking and choosing the cases he wants, so he said he's able to devote whatever time is needed to the job. 

"I hear people are staying at the court sometimes until midnight," he said. "That's no reflection on Dan Barklage...I know how to clean a docket up. I'd like to see the citizens come in and get out. And it's really important, I think this court is probably the only court that most citizens will ever see. The impression that they get of our system at this level is very very important."

Paul Kaiser, an attorney in St. Charles, said he has practiced in municipal courts as well as worked as an assistant prosecutor for five years in St. Charles County. Kaiser was an administrative law judge for six years in California. He said he believes his experience will help him. 

"I know how people act when they are in a stressful situation," he said. 

Kaiser said he wants to make the court user-friendly. He said many times people come in and don't realize they can just pay their fines and leave. 

"There are people who've been sitting there for two or three hours at least, they don’t like going there, they know it’s going to cost them money," Kaiser said. "You’ve got to have patience with them. You're a public servant."

See candidate profiles for , and Paul Kaiser on St. Charles Patch.