Deeper into the hole he dug goes Attorney General Kwame Raoul on the Jenny Thornley matter – Wirepoints

By: Mark Glennon*

Here’s the latest on the evasion and deceit in the Jenny Thornley saga.

We’ve covered background facts earlier. Suffice it to say that Jenny Thornley was a politically connected state employee who made a workers’ compensation claim for harm supposedly suffered in a sexual harassment — a harassment that never occurred according to an investigation concluded at the cost of $550,000 to Illinois taxpayers.

Valid questions include why the apparently fraudulent claim was nevertheless approved, whether any effort is being made to hold anybody accountable, what role Gov. JB Pritzker’s office had in approving it and why it would have done so.

The Center Square has now obtained an email clearly indicating that, despite claims by the Illinois Attorney General’s office that it referred the case out for the Illinois Office of the Appellate Prosecutor to handle, no such appointment has been made. The email, reproduced in full below, was sent by David Robinson, chief deputy director of the State’s Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor on Friday morning.

But that contradicts what Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office told Greg Bishop at The Center Square on Wednesday. “The Attorney General’s office moved the [overtime] case forward by referring allegations of theft and forgery to the State Appellate Prosecutor’s office, and criminal charges are pending against Ms. Thornley as a result,” Raoul press secretary Annie Thompson said. “Just as we referred the theft and forgery allegations, we have referred allegations that Ms. Thornley committed worker’s compensation fraud to the appellate prosecutor’s office,” Raoul’s office said on Wednesday. “Our understanding is the matter is under review by that office.” In truth, public records show the Illinois Office of the Appellate Prosecutor was requested by Sangamon County State’s Attorney Dan Wright, nor Raoul’s office, and ordered by a judge in April 2021. And the referral on the workers’ comp claim was never made at all, Robinson’s email says.

It also contradicts claims made by Raoul himself later on Friday when, in response to a question from NBC Chicago’s Mary Ann Ahern, he attempted to explain his reasons for referring the matter out.

Watch the short video clip of what Raoul said. After he and Pritzker laughed the matter off, Raoul went on to make other deceitful claims about it, beyond the false claim that the matter was referred out.

He claimed he passed off the case to a different office because his office had a conflict of interest. Raoul said there is a “typical” and “common” conflict because Thornley made sexual assault allegations against her supervisor. “And so, we’re engaged … adverse to the person making the allegations,” Raoul said. “After an investigation, it’s revealed that there’s potential for fraud from that employee. It will look like retaliation if you’re prosecuting the person that you’re adverse, so it’s a typical conflict, which is common.”

Wait, what? That’s no conflict of interest, it’s alignment. The state is adverse to Thornley on both the workers’ comp fraud matter and on the sexual harassment matter. Since when does it “look like retaliation” for the state to prosecute an attempted fraud against it just because the fraudster is suing the state on something else?

Raoul said the issue is being made out of nothing by a political opponent who “knows nothing about the office, who knows nothing about how the office works….”

But look at that email where Robinson asked why Raoul claimed that his office has no jurisdiction over a workers’ comp fraud claim. Raoul’s office in fact has an entire worker’s comp fraud division, as the email says. Robinson further notes that his (Robinson’s) office has no experience or history with workers’ comp fraud claims. It’s Raoul who seems intent on making himself appear to know nothing about the office.

Raoul also tried to smoke over the matter with a distraction, as you can see in the video, by saying “it’s been alleged” that CMS (Central Management Services) handled the worker’s comp claim when it shouldn’t have.

No, no, no. Never mind CMS. What’s been alleged, as Raoul knows full well, is that Pritzker’s office helped put through the fraudulent claim when they shouldn’t have, and there’s darn good evidence supporting that allegation.

That’s the matter Raoul is trying to hide from. Smirking at valid questions, as you can see him and Pritzker do in the video, won’t fly.

Salute to Greg Bishop at The Center Square for his work on this.

*Mark Glennon is founder of Wirepoints

This column was update to add the full quote from Ms. Thompson in Raoul’s office and the comment respecting the earlier overtime fraud referral by the Sangamon County state’s attorney.