A day after former Madison County administrator Doug Hulme launched a scathing attack against his political rival at a county GOP meeting, a judge dismissed lawsuits involving his firing in 2020.
In one case, which sought to restore Hulme's and IT director Rob Dorman's employment, Associate Judge Ron Foster found summons was never issued in the matter.
"Defendant did accept service but this did not relieve Plaintiffs of their obligation to make a good faith effort to have summons issued," Foster wrote in his April 26 order.
He wrote that there are cases where a 35-day requirement for issuing summons have been "relaxed."
"However, those cases occurred where the plaintiffs have made a good faith effort to issue summons within the statutory time period but due to some circumstance beyond their control, summons was not issued...The good-faith exception does not apply where a plaintiff makes no attempt to have a summons issued within 35 days."
Foster did not address the case's merits.
In another lawsuit alleging violations of the Open Meetings Act, Foster found the county provided appropriate notice of issues to be discussed in an April 15, 2020 executive session and that it complied with procedural requirements. He also found the board's April 16, 2020 termination vote meeting did not violate the Open Meetings Act.
"Plaintiffs have failed to raise a genuine issue of material fact to defeat Defendant's motion for summary judgment," Foster wrote.
The county board's 26-1 vote to fire Hulme and Dorman followed an investigation targeting them for alleged public corruption, however, charges were never filed.
The investigation included the wiring of county Treasurer Chris Slusser in conversation with Hulme; the recording was shared with some county board members prior to the termination vote.
Slusser, who is seeking a second term as Treasurer, will face Hulme in the June 28 primary.
Hulme's campaign against Slusser has been ferocious.
At the county GOP's April 25 meeting, Hulme alleged that Slusser helped organize a Black Lives Matter march in 2020, and criticized Slusser's support for Madison/Venice NAACP's leader.
Slusser has previously stated he has never been affiliated with or supported BLM. He has stated he is attempting to build authentic relationships in the black community.
On April 26, Hulme doubled down in a press release in which he continued to disparage Slusser over his support for persons associated with local NAACP branches.
"You will be happy to know that the Madison/Venice NAACP is run by President Bishop John Williams and Chris Slusser paid him $2,800 to work on Slusser's campaign with funds the MCRCC gave Chris Slusser," he wrote. "Slusser also hired Williams' daughter as a county union employee in the Treasurer's Office with a pension. Slusser also paid Alton NAACP VP and Democrat Rosetta Brown $500 in campaign funds as well. Slusser hired Alton NAACP President Andy Hightower's wife into a county job in the Treasurer's Office with a county pension."
Reaction to the GOP meeting included precinct committeeman Douglas Dial of Glen Carbon calling for Hulme to end his candidacy and step down from his precinct committee assignment.
Hulme indicated Foster's rulings would be appealed.
"This case was filed two years ago and we asked Chief Judge Bill Mudge for an out of county judge multiple times and would not rule on the matter, meanwhile judge after judge refused to hear the case, dragging it out," Hulme stated.
"Chief Judge Mudge is the reason Rob and I are even in this situation due to the piles of prohibited political emails and documents he produced while in office as State's Attorney, doing prohibited politics on county time, which involves email to Judge Foster. I have confidence that the appellate court will resolve the matter in our favor. "