(This story has been updated).
In pursuit of an investigation into the use of the county’s email system for political activity, the Madison County Judiciary Committee has asked State’s Attorney Tom Gibbons to write a letter to the Attorney General’s Office to determine if that office had already looked into suspect emails during an unrelated investigation involving former county employees.
Committee Chair Mike Walters (R) agreed that emails alleged to be political in nature and therefore prohibited should be looked into. They were provided to the Judiciary Committee by former State’s Attorney’s Office employee Andrew Kane, who obtained hundreds of email through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.
Walters turned the request for investigation over to Gibbons, who said he believes the Attorney General’s Office should already have the emails in question after taking over an investigation involving former Madison County IT Director Rob Dorman and former County Administrator Doug Hulme. The Attorney General’s Office collected evidence related to the Dorman-Hulme investigation after visiting judge Jerry Crisel determined that a conflict of interest existed with Gibbons’ office.
Gibbons told the Judiciary Committee that he’d ask the Attorney General’s Office if the emails had already been on their radar.
Committee member Chrissy Dutton-Wiley (R) called on all board members to demand an investigation regardless of political affiliation, urging both sides to have “honest and fair discussions.”
“I don’t care what party you are on,” she said. “I had to think long and hard and decide if it matters who is doing it, if they are Republican or Democrat, and I asked myself that and the answer is, ‘No, it doesn’t matter which party it is.’”
Dutton-Wiley said there is enough evidence to support the need for an investigation.
“I know this committee tends to get a little heated sometimes,” she said. “But I hope that we can all discuss this respectfully and thoughtfully.”
She addressed prior arguments during the County Board meeting that the emails in question are from years ago, but she pointed out that many of the people who sent or received them still work for the county.
“Past behavior is probably indicative of present and future behavior,” she said.
Committee member Mick Madison (R) said that while the actions revealed in the emails may have occurred years ago, the examples are just a “small snippet of what’s been going on.”
“It may still be going on today,” he said. “ I would hope not, but maybe it is.”
Walters agreed that time should not be a deterrent, saying Hulme and Dorman’s positions were terminated in a 26-1 vote by the County Board in April in regards to actions dating back to 2017.
In his public comment, Kane quoted Gibbons as saying that it is “prohibited political activity” to use county and office emails, computers and systems for political purposes or to further campaigns.
“State’s Attorney Gibbons suggested this was such a ‘no brainer,’ yet an overwhelming amount of prohibited political emails were revealed as being sent or received from county email addresses.
“Whether county email was used for negotiating campaign fundraiser catering contracts, drafting precinct packet material, or forwarding invitations to campaign events and fundraisers, the taxpayers deserve an explanation and an apology,” he added.
Kane said he received pushback from some county departments in his efforts, claiming they took “exhaustive measures” to deny the requests including destroying a public record.
During Friday's Judiciary Committee meeting, Madison County Public Defender John Rekowski (D) responded to Kane’s public comment by explaining that an email he sent to then Circuit Judge William Mudge regarding his retention was a joke. He said the email was in reference to an editorial cartoon in the Belleville News Democrat that was critical of Mudge, who is currently the Chief Judge of the Third Judicial Circuit.
“If they had not been illegally snooping, they wouldn’t have even stumbled across that,” Rekowski said. “In fact, it doesn’t bother me.”
“I just want it very very clear to anybody who pays attention to this type of thing, that when they found an email from me about a campaign brochure, it was an internal system joke that I forwarded to them when the editorial questioned … making fun of the fact that Bill was up for retention and that type of thing. And I apologize to no one for it,” he added.
In response, Dutton-Wiley said that she has “countless” emails “sitting here in front of me that you were doing political things on county time, so I don’t think it was just one email. There were a few.”
Among Rekowski emails provided to Judiciary include correspondence to precinct committee persons and a letter supporting then Senator Barack Obama.
Walters also responded, saying that using county emails for political purposes is “just as serious” as snooping through emails. He added that the information was not obtained by Hulme and Dorman’s snooping, but by Kane through Freedom of Information Act requests.
“The information we received came through a FOIA, not through an illegal investigation.”
Gibbons addressed a specific email referenced in Kane’s comment relating to former State’s Attorney and Illinois Senator Bill Haine who was allegedly soliciting support for a fundraiser where free food and drinks were served.
“I think one of the ironies is the fact that the individual who sent the letter in today is making such a big deal about that particular email and that event, is the fact that if you look at the recipient of that email, he is included on there,” Gibbons said. “And in fact, he attended that event. And in fact took, I would say, took very liberal advantage of the available free alcohol, which ultimately led to disciplinary measures. So, there’s certainly some sour grapes involved there. But I think it’s interesting … for a person to be talking so strongly about something in which he was personally involved.”
Kane responded that he was a recipient of the email but did not forward or reply to the message. Kane also shared a document from June 2012 in which Gibbons granted his request for reversal of the disciplinary action “for comments made after work hours.”
Kane added that the disciplinary action was initiated by former Chief Administrator Kevin Hendircks, who he said resigned after spending eight months on administrative leave for allegations and investigations relating to sexual harassment.
“Most unsettling is Gibbons refused to take any disciplinary measures against members of his administration who solicited this prohibited political material and who used the Madison County Administration Building as a taxpayer funded campaign office. Additionally, he has also refused to condemn this conduct and, in fact, appears to be blaming those who have uncovered the prohibited conduct.
“The only people taking ‘very liberal’ advantage of anything in Madison County are the elected officials and office employees who are taking advantage of the taxpayers by participating in or allowing prohibited political activity to flourish in their offices,” Kane responded in a public comment to the Madison County Board ahead of the Oct. 21 meeting.