Answers needed as Illinois’ Jenny Thornley affair continues – Wirepoints Original

By: Mark Glennon*

If the name Jenny Thornley rings a bell at all, you probably have only vague awareness of what may have seemed like a he-said, she-said news story about a fired state employee and alleged sexual misconduct.

But it’s much more than that. The full story raises serious questions of wrongdoing that may go to the heart of how Illinois government works, in both the Pritzker Administration and the General Assembly. The story is still unfolding but answers are clearly needed.

To understand, you need to hunker down on the facts, summarized below. You will see that the more interesting and potentially explosive part isn’t in the initial legal fight about the fired employee and her claim of harassment. Let’s call that Part 1. It’s in the defendant’s counterclaim, which has received almost no press, and in the employee’s disability pay and other fallout from the initial story, which we will call Part 2.

These facts and allegations come mostly from filed court documents and Chicago Tribune articles on the matter, which are listed at the bottom of this column, the most recent of which is linked here.

Part 1:

Jenny Thornley was the chief fiscal officer and personnel director at an office called the Illinois State Police Merit Board. She had also worked as a campaign volunteer for various Illinois Democrats, including JB Pritzker in 2018.

Around January 2020, Thornley got wind that the Merit Board’s executive director, Jack Garcia, was looking into whether Thornley had been cheating on overtime pay claims, which would likely lead to her dismissal.

Thornley then undertook a strategy, according to Garcia’s court filings, of “aggressively leveraging her political influence and powerful connections to insulate her from any accountability…retaliating against anyone who would dare to pierce her bubble of political influence to hold her accountable” and she “manufactured allegations against the person who discovered her fraud, Jack Garcia.” Those allegations included sexual misconduct by Garcia.

She “turned to the governor’s office” as the Tribune put it. “She sent emails to Pritzker’s top aides and a text to the governor’s wife over the weekend of the 2020 Super Bowl asking for help with sexual misconduct allegations.”

After hearing from Thornley, Garcia’s counterclaim alleges, “high-ranking officials within the Governor’s Office inserted themselves into the investigative process, urged the Merit Board to suspend Garcia, and strongly discouraged the Merit Board from taking any action against Thornley for her fraud until an independent investigation could be conducted.”

It should be clearly noted that such an independent investigation was conducted, absolving Garcia. The investigation cost the state $500,000. It was done by former federal prosecutor Christina Egan and it found evidence sufficient to support a finding that Thornley forged documents to make “payments for herself for overtime she did not work.” It also found evidence was insufficient to back Thornley’s claims of sexual assault. Garcia also passed a polygraph test on the alleged sexual assault.

One particularly ham-handed effort by Thornley is alleged in an affidavit of record in court by James Wolfe, chairman and CEO of Knight Partners, and a mutual acquaintance of Thornley and Garcia. It describes a call to Wolfe by Thornley asking Wolfe to call Garcia and tell him to “back off” because he “didn’t know who he was messing with” and the governor’s office would be getting involved if he did not back off. As Thornley should have expected, Wolfe said no and alerted Garcia.

Both Thornley and Garcia were initially placed on administrative leave, though Garcia was later reinstated after he was exonerated by the independent report. Thornley was criminally indicted for padding her paycheck with overtime she allegedly did not work.

But the story continues.

Part 2:

Thornley earlier sued Garcia, the Merit Board and the State of Illinois in federal court on the sexual misconduct claims. That lawsuit is still of record.

But what is more interesting now is Garcia’s answer that includes his counterclaim mentioned above. The counterclaim is for defamation and it is where Garcia details the alleged interaction between Thornley, the Pritzker Administration and other state officials.

The counterclaim begins at page 32 of the answer. It contains plenty more concerning allegations too lengthy to summarize here.

The second aspect of Part 2 is that, believe it or not, Thornley has been collecting disability benefits based on harm she allegedly suffered as a result of the sexual assault – the same sexual assault that the special investigation found no evidence of. As reported by the Tribune, she has collected “over $71,000 in workers’ compensation and disability benefits tied to her unsubstantiated allegations of sexual assault.”

How is it possible that the state would allow those payments, given what it already knew about Thornley’s conduct and her claims, including the special investigative report by Christina Egan?

According to the Tribune, the Merit Board sought to contest the workers’ comp claim. It “unsuccessfully called on the executive inspector general to investigate Thornley’s workers’ comp claim and then turned to anti-fraud investigators at the Illinois Department of Insurance and it has been “placed in line for investigation.” In a statement, the Tribune says, Pritzker’s Department of Central Management Services said it is working with [Attorney General] Raoul’s office “to further investigate the merits of Thornley’s claim.”

Finally, Garcia ended up giving up his position at the Merit Board anyway, thanks to the General Assembly. Republican lawmakers say a provision was “surreptitiously added” by Democrats to the 850-page crime reform bill shortly before it passed in the early morning hours of Jan. 13.

The provision bars anyone who has worked for the State Police, such as Garcia, from holding the Merit Board position Garcia held. Democrats say it was part of a responsible redirection of the board, as the Tribune reported. Skeptics fear that Thornley effectively got part of what she wanted – vengeance against Garcia.

The questions should be obvious: To what extent were Thornley’s calls for help to clout her way out of trouble heard and acted on? Who, if anybody, attempted to obstruct the initial investigation of Thornley or assure she would get disability compensation?

More importantly, step back and ask a broader question as well: What kind of culture makes somebody like Thornley so confident that they can pull strings and bully themselves out of trouble as brazenly as Thornley is alleged to have attempted?

Nah, scratch that last question. I think we know the answer.

*Mark Glennon is founder of Wirepoints.

This column was updated to include the $500,000 cost to the state of the independent investigation.

Chicago Tribune articles on the subject:

• Former state official who allegedly falsified overtime now under scrutiny after collecting more than $71,000 in workers’ comp and disability
• Pritzker pushes out second member of troubled Illinois State Police Merit Board
• Gov. J.B. Pritzker dumps chair of board that oversees hiring and promotions at Illinois State Police
• Illinois GOP leaders question whether provision in crime bill inserted in effort to oust agency head investigating Pritzker supporter
• Former Illinois State Police Merit Board financial officer accused of filing false overtime reports