Belleville city attorney Brian Flynn ran amok about this time last year, and now he’s doing it again.
Maybe he doesn’t operate well in cold weather, or maybe someone should examine his performance and see if he needs some kind of tune-up.
Last year, the Illinois State Board of Elections denied an objection that would have guaranteed the nomination of St. Clair County State’s Attorney Brendan Kelly as Democratic candidate for Congress, ruling that his opponent, David Bequette of Columbia, could run against him in the upcoming 12th District primary.
That was after the board had first decided to uphold the objection and was challenged because of glaring irregularities in their initial review.
Lynda Lee Sparks-Frankly of Percy had objected to Bequette's nominating petitions and Flynn, her lawyer, had demanded that Bequette’s petitions be deemed illegal and void in their entirety.
Flynn subpoenaed two E. St. Louis residents who’d circulated petitions for Bequette, compelling them to appear at a hearing at which he tried, unsuccessfully, to browbeat them into admitting that they’d padded their petitions.
Now Flynn is trying to trying to pull a fast one on Federico Dodge in Wood River by subjecting the dealership to a demand for documents so extensive and unreasonable as to make compliance financially burdensome.
Flynn filed suit against Fiat Chrysler America (FCA) in 2015, alleging that hackers could remotely seize control of his Jeep through its Uconnect electronic system. He’s hoping to represent a class of Jeep buyers with Uconnect.
As part of this effort, Flynn served a subpoena on Federico Dodge, demanding voluminous documents outlining details of its relationship with FCA. Federico Dodge argues that the requests include trade secrets or other confidential information and that compliance would require enormous costs.
“These costs will be substantial and include overtime for employees and costs and fees for counsel and production of electronic information,” the dealership’s counsel counters.
Flynn is using bully tactics on Federico Dodge, just like he did with the Bequette petition circulators. Maybe he needs a remote control installed in him.