By: Mark Glennon*
The office of Attorney General Kwame Raoul last week filed its brief in an Illinois appellate court to uphold a ruling that that would end Emily Fox’s whistleblower proceeding. That whistleblower complaint was filed in the saga of Jenny Thornley, a former Pritzker campaign worker and state employee. The complaint alleges participation by Gov. JB Pritzker’s office in worker’s compensation fraud and other intervention on Thornley’s behalf.
In a separate federal case arising from the same matter, Jack Garcia pressed the court earlier this month to enforce time deadlines for Thornley’s response to his claims. Formerly Thornley’s boss in a government office, his claims also allege improper involvement of Pritzker’s office on Thornley’s behalf.
Most importantly, it still appears nothing is being done to pursue a workers’ comp fraud claim against Thornley – one that has obvious merit but likely would be embarrassing at best for Pritzker’s office.
The background facts are fairly simple on the most important element in these cases. That’s the workers compensation claim that allegedly was fraudulently collected by Thornley with the help of Pritzker’s office. Thornley earlier claimed Garcia sexually harassed her while both worked for the state. At a cost to taxpayers of over $500,000, an independent investigative report found no basis for that harassment claim. The report also said Garcia has a reputation for integrity, professionalism, and credibility.
But Thornley proceeded nevertheless to file a worker’s comp claim based on harm she supposedly suffered from that harassment – the very harassment that had no basis, according to the investigation.
And her claim was paid, Fox says, thanks to assistance from Pritzker’s office.
Fox worked in the same state office with Thornley and Garcia. Her whistleblower complaint, also called a qui tam proceeding, includes the following:
This extraordinary level of involvement by the Governor’s General Counsel in a workers’ compensation claim involving an independent agency of State government is a raw demonstration of improper political influence to assist a friend and supporter of the Governor at the expense of the People of the State of Illinois. It is made worse by the fact that the entire premise of Thornley’s workers’ compensation claim is the “assault”…that was debunked and proven false by both the $550,000.00 independent investigation undertaken by a law firm the Governor’s Office recommended and then again by an independent investigation of the Illinois State Police.
In the federal case, Garcia’s claims are for defamation by Thornley. Those claims detail alleged interaction between Thornley, the Pritzker Administration and other state officials on Thornley’s behalf earlier in the saga, perhaps resulting from threats made by Thornley.
A lower court earlier dismissed Fox’s whistleblower claim at Raoul’s request, thanks largely to a very lenient legal standard under which that the court believed Raoul is entitled to dismiss such claims. Fox appealed, and the new brief from Raoul’s office is in support of his answer.
In the federal court, Thornley’s attorney asked to drop out of the case because she has been unresponsive to him. Garcia’s new filing included no objection to that, but asked the court not to extend Thornley’s deadline for answering his counterclaims. He’s apparently anxious to get on with that in order to further clear his name and exact some justice.
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Preparing a brief as thorough as Raoul’s office’s new one — 59 pages plus exhibits — is a big project. It appears they are taking this matter seriously. The obvious concern is whether that’s to protect Pritzker. However, Raoul’s office no doubt also wants to uphold the precedent of the easy standard for the attorney general to dismiss whistleblower claims. After all, this is Illinois. It’s nice for government to have discretion to throw out claims they don’t like – “unfettered discretion,” as Fox’s lawyer mockingly described the standard Raoul is arguing for.
In the federal case, it appears Garcia’s counterclaims may go unanswered, giving him a default judgement. That’s too bad because it would be nice to see the evidence he would put on if it were contested.
The nagging, unanswered question is why a worker’s comp fraud claim has not been pursued by the state against Thornley. It appears to be a slam dunk. That claim could proceed irrespective of the outcome of the whistleblower lawsuit or Garcia’s claims, and the grounds for one appear rock solid. I can find nothing indicating any progress on that. Raoul says in his answer that Thornley is probably judgement-proof. But this is a criminal fraud issue and that shouldn’t matter.
Pritzker and Raoul sneeringly laughed off the question about pursuing the fraud claim, quite literally, when it was last asked in July, and Raoul gave an answer that was evasive at best.
The Chicago Tribune in December described the ridiculous game of hot potato being played among various state offices over which one should be pursuing the claim. Raoul has cited dubious claims of conflicts of interest and procedural issues that could have been easily resolved long ago.
By the way, Pritzker’s campaign gave Raoul’s reelection effort $1 million last year and $3 million to his initial election in 2018.
*Mark Glennon is founder of Wirepoints.
The following earlier Wirepoints contain extensive further background and links to relevant documents:
- Pritzker said there should be accountability for worker’s comp fraud. Where is that for Jenny Thornley and Pritzker’s staff?
- Plaintiffs Step Up Fight For Cases To Be Heard in Jenny Thornley Scandal But Attorney General Kwame Raoul Still Covering It Up
- Pritzker’s response to the Jenny Thornley matter is either dishonest, derelict or both
- Deeper into the hole he dug goes Attorney General Kwame Raoul on the Jenny Thornley matter
- Questions Mount Over Pritzker Administration’s Involvement In Thornley’s Alleged Fraud
- Answers needed as Illinois’ Jenny Thornley affair continues
Fatty Arbuckle is laughing that kawame is going to schedule a meeting at the
“ Mystic Knight’s of the Sea Lodge”
They will get this settled once and for all
Pritzker is lucky he did not do this in NYC, otherwise Manhattan District Attorney Bragg would be after him for illegal payments to Thornley!
Now that’s funny
Don’t ever let the facts of this case go undocumented, then dry up and blow away. It is the case study of all case studies to illustrate the Illinois Corruption Industry.