A special meeting of Madison County board members will be held Thursday at 5 p.m. to discuss the fate of Republican county officials accused of spying on political rivals' emails, according to a release from Republican board members.
The meeting will happen a day after the board regularly convenes April 15 with plans to go into executive session for “specific personnel.” It also comes in the wake of affidavits unsealed last week in the two-year public corruption probe conducted by a special task force made up of multiple area law enforcement agencies - including officers of Madison County Sheriff's Department – accusing county administrator Doug Hulme and IT director Rob Dorman of illegally tapping into emails and attempted data breach.
For the first time since the affidavits were unsealed, Hulme responded, in part calling the investigation a “witch hunt.”
"The newly released affidavits are applications for warrants used in the two-year investigation and what is clear is the evidence never supported their assertions," he said in his statement. "The documents are shallow, one-sided accusations and the intent is clearly to hurt the re-election of Kurt Prenzler for the benefits of others, regardless of the collateral damage.”
Though the investigation was shut down in January with an outside judge ordering seized computers be returned to users, Sheriff John Lakin kept Dorman’s Lenovo Think Pad. A warrant to seize it in February says it might have been used in commission of a crime, and specifies perjury and official misconduct.
Nonetheless, no charges have yet been filed.
A lead detective on the special task force, Madison County’s Capt. David Vucich, said on Tuesday that the entire case had been put under a microscope, and that there was unanimous consensus among investigators that there were clear, criminal violations. "Everyone agreed," he said.
Vucich, however, would not comment on whether Hulme is a subject of current investigation.
The case dismissed by visiting Judge Jerry Crisel had been assigned to the Illinois Attorney General for prosecution after a finding that Madison County State's Attorney Tom Gibbons was conflicted. Last fall, AG Kwame Raoul decided not to pursue it, though, because it failed to meet his office's burden for charging.
"The Office of the Attorney General worked with the multi-agency task force that had initiated an investigation into certain allegations," said Raoul's senior press secretary Annie Thompson in an emailed statement Tuesday. "After the completion of that investigation, this office concluded that there was insufficient evidence to support charges against any of the potential targets."
County GOP chair and board member Ray Wesley of Alton said he was extremely disappointed to learn of the information contained in the search warrant affidavits that came to light when unsealed on April 6.
The GOP release points out that the nearly 500 pages of documents unsealed last week allege that Hulme and Dorman were given "unfettered access to the county’s entire email server." Their alleged spying accessed emails of judges and the public defender's office. Dorman allegedly made attempts at accessing Auditor Rick Faccin's financial software.
In the release, though, Wesley focused his criticism on Democrat Bob Daiber, who's running for county board chairman in November against incumbent Republican Kurt Prenzler, for demanding the firing of Hulme and Dorman, as well as temporary coronavirus liaison Steve Adler - officials who work for Prenzler.
"While working through the process of understanding the evidence and getting answers to all questions the county board members may have, it is unfortunate that former Regional Superintendent of Schools Bob Daiber chose to intervene in that process and attempt to take that responsibility away from the county board,” Wesley stated. “He has called for action to be taken without following all necessary procedures set forth in the county policies and procedures handbook and as such could be setting Madison County up for a potential lawsuit if his call to order is followed.”
Tensions are high in Madison County government, and not only because of coronavirus shutdown stress. They have been for nearly the duration of Prenzler's three-plus year administration.
The first public sign of trouble for Prenzler's team came with the raid of county administration offices in the middle of a workday on Jan. 10, 2018, although investigators had already been gathering information. Treasurer Chris Slusser, a Republican, testified to a grand jury in December 2017 that Hulme bragged about having evidence of a circuit judge using county resources for political fund raising, according to an affidavit for a seizure warrant. His testimony also indicated that new printers and copiers were installed throughout departments to allow monitoring of internal hard drives to see what was printed. Also, GPS devices were allegedly placed on county vehicles for monitoring, among other things. In 2018, Slusser wore a wire in conversation with Hulme.
Slusser said his decision to take what he knew to law enforcement was based on wanting to be the type of public servant that citizens who put their trust in him deserve.
"Madison County has had a reputation involving corruption in the past, and there were instances in past scandals in which elected officials knew what was going on, but remained silent," he said in a statement.
That sentiment was echoed by Republican county board members Wesley, Tom McRae of Bethalto, David Michael of Highland and Mike Walters of Godfrey in their joint press release issued Tuesday.
“We have worked incredibly hard as a party to gain public trust and are obligated to thoroughly review the evidence gathered by the task force and take appropriate action regardless of politics," Michael said.
Hulme, though, is standing his ground.
In his statement, he said the January 2018 raid on county administrative offices "started by the Madison County State's Attorney Tom Gibbons and continued by Sheriff John Lakin is a miscarriage of justice that should never occur again.”
"Since, I have fought over two years for the truth of the investigation to come to light and the affidavits show clearly that the 'Task Force' was a fishing expedition and smear campaign for political purposes,” he stated. “I will be forever grateful that Chief Judge Hylla asked for the case to be removed to an out of county judge and for the prosecution to be given to the Illinois Attorney General so that justice could be served.
"I have worked hand in hand with Chairman Kurt Prenzler to lower taxes and to shape Madison County government into a non-political workplace. I am disappointed that some county board members from both parties feel it is important to send malicious political press releases about county employees to further their own political agenda, particularly during the current pandemic."
After search warrant affidavits were unsealed last week, many county board members from both parties were allowed to hear the recorded conversation between Slusser and Hulme, as well as see other documents not contained in the affidavits, in a special briefing by the task force.
Vucich, who responded Tuesday to questions posed to Sheriff Lakin, would not confirm whether board members were briefed. He said Lakin was not answering question directly because motions had been filed in a legal action in which (Lakin) was accused of contempt.
In March, a lawyer for Dorman, Edward Moorman of Alton, alleged that Lakin violated a court order by continuing the investigation of the county administration. Moorman filed a motion for Lakin to show why the court shouldn’t hold him in contempt.
Vucich said that a reporter could not listen to the recorded conversation between Slusser and Hulme, as it was not public information.
As to whether a court order had been obtained to allow parties outside the recorded conversation to listen to it, Vucich said, "I don't have an answer to that."
What does the law say about it?
The Illinois Supreme Court hasn’t ruled on disclosure of recorded conversations, but Second Circuit judges prohibited outside disclosure in 2001.
They found that Northwest Newspapers lacked standing to sue for access to a conversation and court orders in McHenry County, and that only a party to an application or a recorded conversation may file a motion to inspect orders and recordings.
Former Justice Robert Byrne wrote, “Nowhere in the provisions does the legislature contemplate access by a nonparty to the overhear...If the legislature intended to give the press or the public access to this information, it specifically would have stated so.”
The opinion says that sealing aids the government in investigation and prosecution, and that access would set a dangerous precedent and thwart the legislature’s intent to limit access to private affairs.
The law on recording addresses “notice to parties overheard,” in a section that might pertain to the conversation between Hulme and Slusser. It provides for service of notice on persons named in an order no later than 90 days after termination of the period of the order, “as the judge may determine that justice requires.”
It provides for postponement on a showing of good cause.
Hulme said on April 14 that he received no notice.
Records showing how the 90-day provision did or didn’t operate remain under seal, as do records showing whether Vucich obtained postponement orders.
Without notice, a subject can’t exercise an option under the law to seek access to his own voice.
Whether Republican confidence in Prenzler's top advisors has been eroded since affidavits were unsealed last week and the more detailed briefings from the task force were provided, remains to be seen.
“I spent much of the Easter weekend reading the affidavits and trying to understand the case and how best to move forward,” McRae said.
Hulme, in the meantime, apologized to people who work for him for the stress the investigation has caused them.
"In closing I would like to apologize to those who work under me at the county who suffered through multiple police raids, interrogations, personal threats, and the unimaginable stress of dealing with a two year long police investigation in which I was cleared,” he stated. “Dozens of county employees endured this witch hunt and in the end it was a complete fiasco that has only ended in wasted resources and public political bickering."
The reason why a special meeting was scheduled April 16 to discuss the Hulme and Dorman situation rather than adding to the regular April 15 agenda, was based on advice from the State’s Attorney’s office, according to McRae. He said the State's Attorney indicated that for a variety of legal reasons, no action could be taken after the regularly scheduled meeting’s executive session.