St. Charles Municipal Judge Candidate Profile: Richard Veit

Richard Veit is one of three candidates running for St. Charles municipal judge. The other candidates are Bill Lohmar and Paul Kaiser, whose candidate profiles are also available. Veit was interviewed in person for this questionnaire. 

CAMPAIGN CONTACT INFORMATION

• Website: richardveit.com
• Email: Rveit8348@hotmail.com

• Phone: 636-916-4357

PERSONAL INFORMATION

• Age: 49
• Family: Wife Josie Veit is an ICU nurse at SSM St. Joseph Health Center. Veit has a 23-year-old daughter, a 21-year-old daughter, a 20-year-old son and a 14-year-old daughter.
• Education: Graduated high school from St. Thomas Aquinas, earned business degree from University of Missouri-St. Louis and a law degree from University of Missouri.
  
• Occupation: General practice attorney
  
• Party affiliation: Republican
• Previous elected offices: Veit served one, four-year term to the St. Charles County Council, which will end this spring.
  
• Applicable experience: "My legal experience is applicable because I’ve handled all of the types of cases and dealt with the types of cases that would go before the court," Veit said. "I’ve definitely interacted with people with legal problems. What makes me stand out is that I’ve been involved in city council. I’m familiar with passing laws. I recognize that the municipal judge also has an administrative job to run the courts, which is more than just sitting behind the bench. The municipal judge has what’s known as director status. They’re responsible for the budget, submitting it and basically running it. I think my experience in city council will help me in that role."

CANDIDATE QUESTIONS

What is the primary reason you are running for this office?

"I want to continue to serve the citizens in St. Charles," said Veit. "When I ran for city council, it was a unique, four-year position. I never really envisioned running a second term. I thought I’d be a good transition from some of the problems in the past. I thought I’ve done a good job. I don’t regret many of my votes. I’d like to see an institution of a more structured community service program where the offenders directly provide the service to the community. Things like picking up trash, other stuff you can directly tie to making the City of St. Charles--because the offense occurred in the City of St. Charles--a better place."

What will be your single most important priority if you get elected?

"The main priority has to be to assure the continuity of what has been working it the past," he said. "We’ve had the same judge. We have a lot of right things that have been going on. If the wrong judge is in there making the wrong decisions, or making changes too quickly, it could cause problems. I have to say my first focus is to maintain the continuity on that. The second one is to explore whether a self-funded community service program would be a viable alternative."

What sets you apart from the other candidates, if contested?

"Although I have a lot of experience, I'm a good 10 years younger than each of my opponents," Veit said. "I think, I don’t know what's in their heart, but I’m committed to really work this hard and really make a difference as opposed to considering it some kind of cush semi-retirement job. I’m not ready to retire. And the other thing is, I’m the only one that has a voting track record that you can see where I’m coming from. My philosophy."

How long have you lived in St. Charles? 14 years

What's your favorite thing about St. Charles?

"I like the large gatherings of people," Veit said. "It doesn’t always have to be a big festival but when you have the large gatherings, whether it be Music on Main, you see a lot of people that you know. You see a lot of people having fun. Main Street is a lot of different things to a lot of different people. For some people it’s sitting at a coffee shop talking to friends. To other people it’s the 300,000 people raining in on Main Street for the Festival of the Little Hills. I do like a lot of the activity that happens around here."

What is the biggest problem in St. Charles?

"I think I'd have to look at it from a perspective from crime," Veit said. "The fact that we’ve got two interstates that run through our city, it can be a plus, but it can be a negative. It’s an opportunity for people who are outside the community to hop off the highway. It’s an opportunity for tourism because we have people come in here, but it also means people who aren’t tourists are just looking for crimes of opportunity will use our proximity to the highway to do that."

"A sense of safety is so vital to enjoying our community. If you don’t feel safe, that’s really problematic. I’ve walked at night. I walk in neighborhoods that aren’t the wealthiest neighborhoods, and I still feel safe and comfortable."