The November 2018 campaign for Jefferson County elective offices began last week with a statement from Prosecuting Attorney Forrest Wegge that he does not intend to run for a fourth four-year term and announcements from two candidates who want to replace him.
Both candidates said they intend to file for the Republican Party’s nomination for the office – Trisha Stefanski, who is an assistant prosecutor under Wegge, and Mark Bishop, a partner and co-owner of the Wegmann Law Firm in Hillsboro.
Wegge, 48, a Democrat, said many factors contributed to his decision.
“I’m currently in my 11th year doing this job,” he said. “It’s been one-third of my professional legal career. When I finish, I’ll be tied for the longest-running Jefferson County prosecuting attorney (with his predecessor, Bob Wilkins). I think it’s time to move on. I’m been considering this for an extended period of time.”
Wegge said he had no concrete plans for the next step in his career.
“That’s a long time from now,” he said. “When the time comes, I’ll consider my options. There will be a lot of potential opportunities, but it’s way too premature to think about that.”
Wegge lives in Arnold with his wife, Heather, and their daughter.
He said he made his plans known now to allow potential successors time to decide whether to run.
“This is a very important position,” he said. “Anybody who’s considering running for this office needs time to consider it.”
The job currently pays $136,402 per year.
Stefanski
Stefanski, 42, of Fenton was hired by Wegge about 10 years ago, with an emphasis on prosecuting drug-related crimes.
She said she told Wegge in her first year on the job that she wanted to succeed him as prosecutor someday.
She said she is ready to step up.
“If you talk with the defense attorneys who have worked with me, they would tell you that I look at things from every angle,” Stefanski said. “I can be very tough on people who need to be treated that way, or I can look at people who need rehab more than they need prison.”
She grew up in south St. Louis before her family moved to the Fenton area when she was 12. She graduated from Eureka High School in 1993, then earned a bachelor’s degree with a major in psychology and minor in criminal justice in 1998 at Southwest Missouri State University (now Missouri State University). She graduated in 2005 from the St. Louis University School of Law, attending night classes while working as a paralegal.
Stefanski said she learned early on in her career that she preferred being a prosecutor rather than a defense attorney, and when she heard of an opening in the Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, she jumped at the chance.
“It’s not just about putting the bad guys in jail,” she said. “The rewarding part is the rehabilitation end, trying to see if you can help turn people’s lives around. With some (minor crimes), the last resort should be the Department of Corrections. We try to get people in the drug court, the DWI court, the veterans court – they can help people who want to be helped.”
Other defendants, she said, require a different mindset. “When we’re talking about those who manufacture drugs, who are constant offenders, who are perpetrators of violent crimes, I think we’ve done a good job over the last 10 years of getting people off the streets as fast as we can.”
Stefanski got her first taste of campaigning in 2016 when she waged an unsuccessful bid for the Republican nomination for Div. 13 associate circuit judge.
“It was disappointing, of course,” she said, “but I looked at it as a one-door-closes, another-door-opens situation. I feel like last year was a meant-to-be experience, like it was my training for next year.”
Stefanski and her partner, Patrick Christopher, have four children.
Bishop
Bishop, 46, of Festus also is philosophic about his election loss in 2006, when he ran against Wegge in the Democratic primary for prosecuting attorney. Wegge went on to win his first four-year term.
“I’m a very different person from the one who ran in 2006,” Bishop said. “I still have about a decade of prosecutor experience in one of the most challenging places in the state – St. Louis County under Bob McCullough. I started in traffic and misdemeanors and ended up handling murder and drug trafficking cases.”
After his loss in the primary, Bishop was hired by the Wegmann Law Firm, where he is now a partner and owner.
“As an owner, I’m also responsible for hiring and firing employees, setting a payroll and budget and all the other issues that the prosecuting attorney will have to deal with. I’ve also learned about law from the other side, as a defense attorney, which gives me an appreciation for the larger picture. I’ve been involved in 20 criminal jury trials while I’ve been at Wegmann, But while I’ve been here, I’ve continued gaining prosecuting experience, as the municipal prosecutor for Herculaneum and De Soto.”
Originally from St. Charles, Bishop graduated from Duchesne High School and then majored in philosophy and political science at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, graduating from there in 1992. He earned a law degree from Southern Illinois University Carbondale in 1996.
Although Bishop ran as a Democrat in 2006 and intends to file as a Republican this time around, he said he hasn’t changed. “I was a conservative Democrat when I ran last time,” he said. “My philosophy and beliefs are essentially the same, particularly when it comes to law enforcement issues. But there have been changes in the national and local scene, and the Republican Party more closely aligns with my beliefs.”
Bishop previously served two terms on the Windsor C-1 Board of Education. He and his wife, Rebecca, have four sons.
Filing for the Aug. 7, 2018, primary election will run from Feb. 27 to March 27.