Freedom of Information Dust-up with Sheriff Nygren

Mike Mahon

Keith Nygren

Democratic Party candidate for McHenry County Sheriff Mike Mahon has issued this statement:

“McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren appears to have a hard time getting into the spirit of Sunshine Week, which promotes openness in Illinois government.

“Yesterday, an unpaid private citizen and volunteer of my campaign delivered this campaign’s third Freedom of Information Act request, only to have Nygren call the volunteer into his office, berate him personally, repeatedly state that the Sheriff’s Office was ‘too busy’ to handle FOIAs, and threaten to file retaliatory FOIAs with my current employer for every FOIA his office received.

“It happened as follows:

“When the volunteer arrived at the Woodstock Government Center in Woodstock, Illinois, at about 11:30 a.m., to officially file an additional FOIA request, the volunteer was asked to wait.

“After about five minutes, Sheriff Nygren in person came out and asked to speak with the volunteer alone in his office. After reaching his office, he ‘ordered’ the volunteer to sit down and, visibly angry, proceeded to berate the volunteer about the campaign, about the volunteer’s professional background, and stated several times that his office was ‘too busy’ to handle FOIA requests.

“He also stated multiple times that for every FOIA request he received from the Mahon campaign, he would file a retaliatory FOIA request with my employer.

“Nygren’s boorish and unprofessional behavior aside, his statements indicate at the very least an attitude toward the Freedom of Information Act that could not possibly be more diametrically opposed to the spirit of Illinois’ new statute. J

“Just today in the current edition of the Northwest Herald paper there is an editorial titled ‘Government in Illinois still too secretive’ which discusses how this week is part of the national initiative called Sunshine Week, specifically designed to raise the awareness of the importance of open government. Obviously Keith Nygren didn’t get the memo.”

A complaint with all the specifics has been filed with the Public Access Counselor’s Office of the Illinois Attorney General.

For more information contact the Mike Mahon for Sheriff Campaign at 847.515.4772.


Comments

Freedom of Information Dust-up with Sheriff Nygren — 9 Comments

  1. Perhaps Nygren should get rid of one of the useless supervisors and hire 2 people to take care of the FOIA requests. It is the law after all, you do have to answer them. Perhaps there are just too many things going on in that department that need looking into!!!

  2. Is this really a press release about a campaign worker having their feelings hurt? At very least he could have included the details of what he was asking for, or would that be too much “sunshine” for Mr. Mahon to share with us? The generic personal attack made by this press release stinks of typical dirty Cook County politics from this Cook County employee.

  3. Really – Digging deeper, we make Cook County look good!!!!

  4. The MCSO has a FOIA officer that attends to the FOIA requests. Nygren does not , nor would any Chief Executive, answer or handle FOIA requests personally. I’m sure that this “volunteer” reported an unbiased account of this meeting ( WINK, WINK)

    So far I have seen Mahon blow smoke about concealed carry by Correctional Officers when Sheriff’s are not empowered to grant such actions by State Law. Problem is that the public is not informed and he can spout half truths and outright lies under the guise of a campaign.

    I would not give too much credit to this one sided account. I’m sure we will see more smoke amd mirrors.

  5. I tend to agree, in part, with Really – perhaps it would help us to know what information Mahon’s volunteer worker was requesting. Was it just a nuisance request that would, in fast, just tie up one or more people to research and produce? Or was it something of substance that Mahon’s campaign planned to use to illustrate why Nygren should no longer hold the position of trust as Sheriff of our county? If it is true that Nygren personally “berated the volunteer” and attacked the person’s (man or woman?) background, that sounds both improper and unprofessional. We went through the personal attacks and dirty tricks on Seipler’s workers before the primary: will this be a repeat? I disagree with Really, though, about this incident being “dirty Cook County politics”. The dirt is most likely on Keith Nygren’s politics – hopefully not on McHenry Co. politics. As an independant conservative, I am seeing all politicians as questionable: the office of sheriff should not be a political powerbase, Mahon was right when he first announced: the Sheriff’s office belongs to the people. That Mahon has worked in the Cook County government, however, does not necessarily make him a politician. Now I want to meet Mahon face to face and get him to tell me he will work to de-politicize the Sheriff’s office if he gets the job. Keith Nygren is once again proving he is a politician.

  6. Mr. Roberts,
    This is typical behavior by Nygren. Threats and bullying. I am sure the volunteer did not go and ask for Nygren to make the request. That is done at the desk. No one just goes in and has access to the sheriff. Nygren was informed by his people and then he intervened.
    He has made threats toward all of his opponents.
    FOIA is very important as too much information is hidden by the sheriff’s dept. Things the public should know about how this elected official does or does not do his job. They need to come to light. His friendships with the media prevent news from getting out and it is up to the people like Cal to get it out.
    The lawsuits against this department keep going up in number. People are disgusted.

  7. This is typical behavior from Nygren. Someone makes a legally permitted request by following all of the proper channels required, and Nygren pulls him into his office to scream and threaten him? What if had this been a member of the media or any other member of the public. Of course we know this would never happen to the NW Herald, because they only report what Nygren allows. They would never dream of filing a FOIA for fear of offending him. Luckily he was screaming at a trained officer who is not as easily intimidated by Nygrens threats and verbal abuse.

    Nygren actually thought he was screaming at Mahon until the representative informed him of who he was yelling at. Nygren, who has campaigned in the booth right next to Mahon, does not even know who Mahon is? This article does not even mention half of what Nygren said during his screaming fit. He has had background checks done on Mahon’s campaign volunteers and screamed personal information, much of which was false, at this worker. Who paid to have these background checks done? Were these checks done by the county? If so, we are again paying for Nygren’s campaign expenses.

    As for what information was requested. Who cares? It is not like he was asking for anything inappropriate. It is information that is permitted under the FOIA. It does not matter what information was requested. He has every right to ask for it.

    It comes down to nothing more than the fact Nygren is upset his intimidation tactics have not worked to force Mahon out of the election. He has tried all of his usual tricks so far. This is a dirty politician. He needs to get out of McHenry and retire to one of his 1/2 million dollar homes where he already spends half of his time.

  8. Earth Mother & Ang: I have stayed away from political nonsense for about 30 years: I vote for the person who I believe would serve the best interests of my family and my community. I have to admit, however, I am really finding the things you mention here interesting because did not know that Nygren could use his law enforcement resources to conduct personal (political) research on people. Are you sure that, as Sheriff, Keith Nygren cannot get background checks done if he want to. Maybe he felt some kind of threat or something and was just making sure the person was OK. Personally, I am an anti-Big Brother guy. If I knew any elected official, whom I pay with my ever-increasing taxes, was looking into me and my family and background, I’d have to become more pro-active and get that person to answer for improper conduct or better yet, fired. Does anyone know who handles the lawsuits against the County? Is there an attorney who works inside the Sheriff’s office, or are lawsuit issues handled by an outside firm or individual. I wonder how many lawsuits we’re facing here that are a result of improper conduct. And who investigates the lawsuits for the County? Now I’m wondering if there is a fox in the hen house.

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