The fourth state legislator representing McHenry County weighed in today on the Jack Franks controversy.
State Rep. Tom Weber offers the following:
Weber: Franks Allegation & Culture of Abuse Must Stop
SPRINGFIELD – Last Friday, news broke that on January 29 a search warrant conducted by the Illinois State Police (ISP) was sent to Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan’s office to investigate alleged criminal wrongdoing by former Democrat State Representative Jack Franks. who currently serves as McHenry County Board Chairman.
While the initial reporting appeared to show Madigan acting to protect the alleged victim, new information from the Sangamon County State’s Attorney shows the opposite to be true.
“The more we learn about Speaker Madigan’s involvement in these allegations of criminal misconduct against Jack Franks it only seems to raise more questions,” said Weber.
“It is terrible the victim has been put in this appalling situation and was unable to trust a process meant to provide protection.
“Sadly, it is becoming more obvious this wasn’t really about protecting the victim and makes it even more difficult for future victims to come forward.”
According to new reporting by The Center Square and information released by Sangamon County State’s Attorney Dan Wright,
“ISP Investigators state that they repeatedly instructed recipients of the Search Warrant that the January 29 Order prohibited disclosure. Nevertheless, the recipients of the Search Warrant disclosed the Search Warrant on January 31, 2020, in response to a Freedom of Information Act … request received on that same date.”
“To be clear, outside of the criminal allegations, the troubling part is the disregard of a judge’s order by the Speaker’s Office,” said Weber.
“A quick FOIA release of a document that was meant to be kept private is a betrayal of the separation of powers, it is a betrayal to the criminal justice process and it is a betrayal of not only this victim, but other victims who fear to speak out
“This disturbing culture of abuse and corruption has to stop!”
On Monday, the Sangamon County State’s Attorney requested the case be under seal moving forward.
RINO Webs! He supports RINO Rezin, too.
Nobody cries for Franks except certain rats … like Weber!
Message to the mentally-challenged Weber:
The victims names weren’t released, only the culprit’s.
Shouldn’t people have the right to know that the Jackalope couldn’t set foot on Illinois Capitol without a police escort?
Quit trying to protect Franks, loser.
I will never vote for you again.
Fool me once.
OK.
Fool me twice, NEVER!
The first one to talk to the FBI gets the best deal, start puking &itches…
This headline is VERY misleading!
What headline would you suggest?
It is often said that “two wrongs don’t make a right. . . but three lefts do!”
That said, consider the following:
1) the search warrant which was handed to Madigan or his staff, clearly stated that the judge had ordered a non-disclosure and yet, Madigan promptly disclosed it. That was wrong and Weber’s statements, for whatever reason, hold weight.
2) you may wish to argue that the FOIA request trumps a judicial order, but I would argue that it does not.
3) Anyone familiar with FOIA’s (Cal? Feel free to speak up) knows that a public body almost NEVER releases material that’s been FOIA’d instanter. Instead they take advantage of the statutory time to reply to have a pow wow and try and figure out how NOT to release the information.
4) In this instance they had ample legal coverage to deny the FOIA requesst and yet Madigan or Madigan’s office, certainly no friend of the media, gave the Sun-Times the document that they wanted immediately. Does that strike anyone as odd?
5) If the search warrant was executed on Wednesday, it might be interesting to know just how its existence was leaked to the press, who whipped up the FOIA request, served it and actually got a flaming, red hot, document in the same day. Inquiring minds and all that. LOL!
One thing is for sure: Madigan and Franks are not cozy. Madigan will toss Franks under any and all available buses as he’s now being looked at, along with the timeline for this mess, and has some explaining to do as well.
In the meantime, odds on the POTUS election, ie, odds:
https://www.predictit.org/markets/detail/3698/Who-will-win-the-2020-US-presidential-election
Oh, and by the way, in case you missed it, “Chicago Tonight” on WTTW did a nice piece on Jack Franks the other night.
Here’s the link to it:
Nicely done and just the facts, M’aam
Why does everybody think Madigan personally disobeyed the gag order?
Couldn’t it have been done by a Madigan staffer?
Did you ever hear the saying the buck stops here at “the Boss” … no matter what… you wanna be top dog you gonna answer
as top dog..