EDWARDSVILLE – Madison County administrator Doug Hulme and information technology director Rob Dorman sued the county board on May 1, to keep their jobs.
Attorney Edward Moorman of Alton filed an action for them in circuit court, seeking review of a double termination that the board approved on April 16.
He wrote that the board made no findings of fact or conclusions of law regarding allegations of misconduct against Hulme and Dorman.
Their termination notices set May 17 as final date of employment.
Also on May 1, in a suit Dorman filed against Sheriff John Lakin to stop a criminal investigation, Lakin pleaded that he can’t stop it.
His lawyer, Heidi Eckert of Clayton, Mo., wrote that Lakin has no control over a task force that investigated Hulme and continues investigating Dorman.
Eckert attached an affidavit of sheriff’s captain David Vucich stating, “I am the commander of the task force.”
“The task force was created as a result of evidence of crimes being committed by Madison County, Illinois public officials and employees including Robert Dorman,” Vucich stated.
He stated it consisted of officers from the sheriff, state police, Alton, Collinsville, Edwardsville, and Granite City.
Vucich’s force seized computers in the administration building on Jan. 10, 2018, and continued seizing items for weeks.
County board chairman Kurt Prenzler moved for independent counsel, claiming a conflict of interest on the part of state’s attorney Tom Gibbons.
Prenzler also moved for assignment of a judge from another circuit.
Then Chief Judge David Hylla asked the Supreme Court for a judge, and Justice Lloyd Karmeier picked the Second Circuit.
Chief Judge Thomas Tedeschi of that district appointed Associate Judge Jerry Crisel of Albion.
Crisel removed Gibbons from the investigation and appointed, now former, Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who resisted for a week but changed her mind.
Crisel granted Madigan authority to investigate Madison County officials “until the appointment of the special prosecutor is terminated by order of court.”
Assistant attorney general Lisa Hennelly led the investigation for Madigan and her successor Kwame Raoul.
Last November, at a meeting in Belleville, Hennelly told the task force Raoul would close the investigation without bringing charges.
In February, Crisel entered an order closing the investigation and terminating Raoul’s appointment.
Vucich released everything the task force had seized two years earlier, except Dorman’s Lenovo Think Pad.
Madison County Associate Judge Neil Schroeder signed a warrant keeping it in Vucich’s hands, on the strength of an affidavit from Granite City detective Jeff Donahey.
He alleged perjury and official misconduct, stating that law enforcement from six agencies believed computer tampering for political gain occurred.
In March, Dorman sued sheriff Lakin for release of his Think Pad, claiming Crisel ordered him to close the investigation.
On April 6, Schroeder unsealed affidavits behind the seizures in 2018.
One of them showed Vucich’s force eavesdropped on Hulme around the time of the computer seizure by placing a wire on county treasurer Chris Slusser.
Vucich shared the recording with county board members, who introduced a termination resolution at a meeting on April 16.
According to Moorman’s complaint for Hulme and Dorman, the board held the meeting without providing notice of any fact in relation to their misconduct.
He wrote that the board denied them opportunities to have counsel, to examine witnesses, and even to be present.
He wrote that the board permitted them to come into the meeting after the presentation of alleged facts.
He wrote that the board violated county rules in that Prenzler didn’t vote for termination or sign the resolution.
Four hours after Hulme and Dorman sued the county board, Eckert filed Sheriff Lakin’s motion to dismiss Dorman’s suit for release of his Think Pad.
She wrote that the task force lawfully seized it as part of a new investigation.
“The matters for which the honorable Crisel was appointed to preside over have been concluded,” Eckert wrote.
She further argued that Dorman couldn’t stand as plaintiff and Lakin shouldn’t stand as defendant.
She wrote that Dorman is no longer employed, doesn’t own the Think Pad, and has no protectable interest in it.
She wrote that he mistakenly sued the wrong party because Lakin did not and does not have direct or tactical control over the task force.
“In sum, Sheriff Lakin was not involved in the decision making of the task force,” she wrote.