Robert Bush

Robert Bush was in Judge Michael Caldwell’s courtroom today representing the Grafton Township Trustees. None of the Trustees were present.

Supervisor Linda Moore was accompanied by her attorney, John Nelson.

Before the judge came in, there was some exchanging of paperwork, which I misunderstood.

I thought Bush was withdrawing from the case, but, no, it was Nelson who was had agreed to withdraw the petition that was on the docket.

“It makes it easy for me,” Bush observed.

“This case is over except for the appeal, some of which is OK, some of which isn’t”

When informed of the change in plans, which freed up two hours in Judge Caldwell’s schedule, he said, “OK.”

And out the door the attorneys and Moore went.

Moore’s attorney Nelson provided the following commentary:

John Nelson

“They did pay the auditor’s bill and I’m going to consider that an olive branch and see if I can work with attorney Bush to see if we can resolve the issued that have boiled over during this term.

“Supervisor Moore is willing to make one last attempt to resolve matters short of all-out litigation.”

When asked if mediator Rob Hanlon would be assisting, the answer was, “No.”

“I’m going to try to work directly with attorney Bush. He was instrumental in getting the auditor’s bill [paid] for the first year.

“If efforts at reconciliation are unsuccessful, we still have plenty of time to litigate matters enforcing the court order before Judge Caldwell.

“My client would like to see an end to the lawyers’ never ending legal bills in this case.

“We are putting the ball into the Trustees court on that matter.”

As I was leaving volunteer mediator Rob Hanlon was conferring with Nelson to find three dates that could be offered to Township Assessor Bill Ottley’s attorney Mike Poper at one of which a compromise between Ottley and Moore would be sought.

Here’s what the Grafton Township Trustee’s law firm Ancel Glink had to say about the Thursday night meeting about mediating legal disputes:

Grafton Township Trustees Barb Murphy, Rob LaPorta, Betty Zirk and Gerry McMahon.

Statement From Trustees through their Attorney.

<Requested to be Read Into the Minutes and to the Public by The Grafton Township Clerk>

August 2, 2012 1: 55PM

It is with disappointment that the Grafton Trustees are not be able to attend this evening’s special meeting as called by Supervisor Moore for the purpose of exploring a mediation solution.

While the Trustees are open-minded to engaging in mediation, neither they nor their attorneys were contacted about their availability for a meeting tonight by Ms. Moore, and this meeting was noticed without consideration of their unavailability.

Our attorney attempted to schedule a conference call with the mediator and John Nelson yesterday to select a date when all parties could participate, which is the usual process for scheduling a mediation session, but Mr. Nelson never returned her phone call.

She attempted to contact Mr. Nelson and themediator again today to establish a mutual date for mediation, but Mr. Nelson never returned her call and the mediator was unavailable.

However, she did notify both of their offices that she and the trustees were not available for tonight’s meeting.

We will continue to try to select a elate when all parties are available for mediation and will be happy to participate at that time.

A press release from Grafton Supervisor Linda Moore:

GRAFTON TOWNSHIP TRUSTEES ADDICTED TO LEGAL FEES

Grafton Township Trustees Gerry McMahon, Betty Zirk, Rob LaPorta and Barbara Murphy.

Supervisor Linda Moore said today that the Grafton Township Trustees,

• Rob LaPorta
• Betty Zirk
• Barbara Murphy
• Gerald McMahon

appear to be addicted to spending taxpayer monies for legal fees.

Supervisor Moore clarified there is only one lawsuit pending between her and the trustees.

That lawsuit started when Moore was unlawfully evicted from her township office while the township board tried to usurp her duties by the unlawful appointment of a town administrator, Pam Fender.

Those problems were aggravated by the failure of Attorney Keri Lynn Krafthefer to leave when Supervisor Moore fired her.

Judge Michael Caldwell ruled in Moore’s favor on all of those issues.

The total cost of the litigation to date is $400,426.00.

Of that amount, $347,194.28 was paid to the trustees’ attorneys and $53,231.72 was paid to Supervisor Moore’s attorney.

Linda Moore

“Why are they appealing every order Judge Caldwell entered against them?” Supervisor Moore asked.

The attorneys’ fees on appeal will be astronomical.

Moore clarified that her current petition and motion are filed in the existing lawsuit and are directed at further attempts by the trustees to do her job.

“Keep in mind,” Moore said, “…the trustees have filed these same kinds of motions against me in the case already.

“The fees in these straight forward requests will be much more reasonable than the trustee’s appeal,” Moore added.

“I am raising issues that the cancelling of a township credit card has no basis other than harassment,” Moore opined.

“You only need to watch one of our meetings online to get a flavor of the abuse I receive at the hands of the trustees.

“Why else do they refuse to pay for the Huntley Police to be there?” Moore asked.

“They say I am too tough and unbending,“ Moore said.

“My answer is that I stopped the waste of taxpayer’s monies of $5 million plus, for an unnecessary new town hall.

“If I was not this tough, Trustee Gerry McMahon’s screaming and the board’s monkey shines would have driven me from office long ago.

“I am not going anywhere.”

Under the article posted yesterday on the Grafton Township Auditors’ draft report, Ancel, Glink Partner Keri-Lyn Krafthefer posted the following comment:

Keir-Lyn Keafthefer

“We at Ancel, Glink share the Trustees’ desire to have the audit completed as quickly as possible.”We have yet to receive a request for an audit letter.

“In the interest of expediting the audit process, we filed a count in the trustees’ lawsuit against Linda Moore long ago to compel her to quickly complete the long overdue audit.

“We certainly would have responded to any such request immediately and will do so upon receipt of a request.”

The 2nd Appellate Court placed a separation of powers bump in the judicial road that stopped Judge Michael Caldwell from installing John Nelson, Supervisor Linda Moore's choice for Township Attorney, without Township Board approval.

Grafton Township Supervisor Linda Moore’s string of court victories met a bump in the judicial road Thursday.

A unanimous 2nd Appellate Court panel decision overruled McHenry County Circuit Court Judge Michael Caldwell’s order that Moore attorney John Nelson should be installed as Township Attorney without Township Board approval.

This separation of powers suit loss, argued by Ancel Glink attorney Thomas G. DiCanni, comes after Moore won a separation of powers suit concerning the exercise of her executive branch powers as Township Supervisor.

Written by Justice Donald C. Hudson, with Justices Robert D. McLaren and Mary Shostok concurring, the opinion ruled that “due respect must always be shown to other co-equal branches of government.”

The appeals court ruled that Judge Caldwell should not have interfered with the discretion possessed by the board on this issue.”

“…the court system has no role to play in reviewing whether the supervisor’s appointment of [John] Nelson should be confirmed,” the decision says.

In further explaining its decision, the panel wrote, “…this case concerns a court directing a legislative body how to proceed on a matter that would typically be within the discretion of the legislative body.”

The legal bills of Grafton Township for March and April, 2011, follow:

The analysis shows that of the$16,313.20, 82.3% was billed by Ancel Glink, the law firm representing Grafton Township’s Trustees.  The dollar amount is $13,430.05.

John Nelson, attorney for Township Supervisor Linda Moore billed $2,883.15.

Grafton Trustees Ask for Additional Delay to Appeal Judge Caldwell’s Order to Appoint John Nelson Township Attorney

Michael Caldwell

Hi ho. Hi ho. It’s off to court we go.

Again. For Grafton Township.

May 4th Grafton Township Trustees were ordered by Judge Michael Caldwell to vote to approve Grafton Township Supervisor Linda Moore’s attorney in her separation of powers case as Township Attorney.

Needless to say, the Trustees do not want the guy who stripped them of all the power that Ancel Glink Partner Keri-Lyn Krafthefer cooked up for them.

The power that Judge Caldwell ruled was improper.

The Trustees’ attorney, Ancel Glink Partner Thomas DiCianni immediately asked for a stay (delay) of the order so the Trustees could file their own separation of powers appeal to the 2nd Appellate Court in Elgin.

Judge Caldwell granted a thirty-day delay so an appeal could be filed.

It was.

Now the Trustees are coming to Judge Caldwell’s courtroom again June 8th to ask for a delay in his order concerning the appointment of John Nelson until the appeal is over.

The document is dated June 6th.

Judge Michael Caldwell

John Nelson

It’s not a surprise that the four Grafton Township Trustees have appealed Judge Michael Caldwell’s order that they approve John Nelson as Grafton Township Attorney.

Rockford Attorney Nelson serves as Township Supervisor Linda Moore’s attorney in her separation of powers suit.

In the clash of Executive versus Legislative Branch powers, Nelson’s representation led the judge’s dismissal of Township Attorney Keri-Lyn Krafthefer., plus Township Administrator Pam Fender.  Krafthefer is a partner of the Ancel Glink law firm.

Grafton Township has been without an attorney since the decision was handed down.

As soon as Caldwell made his ruling, Ancel Glink litigator Thomas DiCianni turned the tables on Nelson claiming that the Judge’s ruling violated the separation of powers between the legislative and judicial branched. (The transcript of the hearing is here.)

Moore’s original suit claimed that the Trustees legislative role was usurping her Executive Branch powers.

Below you see the filing:

= = = = =
This is truly an interesting part of the case. I wonder how many other cases have had all three branches involved in separation of powers disputes.

Complaints have been made about Grafton Township Supervisor Linda Moore’s attorney John Nelson’s charging $250 per hour.

That’s more than the $185 per hour that Keri-Lyn Krafthefer charged before she was dismissed by a court order from McHenry County Circuit Court Judge Michael Caldwell.

Since Moore’s attorney has won most of the skirmishes and certainly the major points of contention, some might argue that even with his higher hourly rate, Nelson is a better buy than Ancel Glink’s attorneys.

Today, let’s look at the latest bills from both firms.

First, here’s the last three-page bill from Ancel Glink. It totals $10,438.



The billing cycles are different for John Nelson. Below you see two months’ bills, which total $5,070.65. That’s about half as much as Ancel Glink billed for one month.  Click on any image to enlarge it.

It may interest some to learn that Krafthefer, no longer township attorney, billed $6,197.50–more in one month than Nelson did in two.
I note that Nelson bills in tenths of an hour, while Ancel Glink seems to bill in quarter-hour segments.

McHenry County Blog has obtained a copy of the transcript of the May 4th court hearing in the separation of powers suit brought by Grafton Township Supervisor Linda Moore last spring after the Township Trustees tried to strip her of virtually all of her power by giving it to a newly-appointed Township Administrator.

The main result was Judge Michael Caldwell’s slapping down that effort, plus dismissing the Township Attorney that Moore tried to fire, Keri-Lyn Krafthefer, a partner an the law firm of Ancel Glink.

The township officials continue to disagree, which requires continuing intervention by Judge Caldwell.

In a moment of levity not captured on the transcript, Judge Caldwell ended the hearing by saying,

“And the beat goes on.”

Caldwell also tried the case instigated by allies of Moore and including Moore as a plaintiff before she took office as Township Supervisor which ruled that the former Township Board had failed to provide adequate notice when they approved construction of a new township hall. His ruling was upheld by the 2nd Appellate Court.

In the early May court hearing, which you can read here, Caldwell ruled that the Township Trustees must approve Moore’s selection for Township Attorney. That choice is the Rockford attorney John Nelson, who won her separation of powers case against the Trustees.

Needless to say, the Trustees do not want to do so and after the Judge’s ruling, their attorney Ancel Glink litigator Thomas DiCianni asked for a stay of the order so that he could appear what he said was a separation of powers question to the Appellate Court.

The final part of the transcript is reproduced below:

Judge Michael Caldwell

THE COURT: While I’m not unsympathetic to some of the arguments made by Mr. DiCianni, I think the separation of powers question is probably a little overly broad to be applied directly to this particular dispute, primarily because we’re dealing with a unit of
local government.

We are not dealing with the United States of America where the separation of powers between the legislative, judicial, and executive branches is far more important than it is here at the local level.

I am also sensitive to the fact that courts should not be and I believe are prohibited ordinarily from interfering with the exercise of legislative discretion. I don’t want to get involved in the idea
that I have to tell the township that they have to approve this road or this contract or anything else.

I did not run for circuit judge for the purpose of being the township supervisor or the — or a township trustee. I have no interest in running this — this unit of local government.

However, this is a case pending before me in a court of equity. I do have the power to enjoin what I consider to be the continuing violation of a statute.

I believe — I don’t know — This is personal for me. This is a personal remark. I probably shouldn’t make it, but I don’t really know why you would want this job.

But that having been said, I believe the failure or refusal of the trustees to approve Mr. Nelson as the township attorney is merely a pretext to continue their ongoing dispute with Linda Moore, the township supervisor.

It will therefore be my order that at the next regular meeting of the town board that the trustees reported McMahon, Murphy, and Zirk approve the appointment of John Nelson as the township attorney. The fact that he disagrees with them or they with him quite frankly is one of the qualifications for the job.

I don’t come to this dispute or the issue of being an attorney for a local government without considerable experience in this arena, having served as a municipal attorney for 30 years, 25 of those with the City of Woodstock. If I had a reputation for one thing (indiscernible) of those years, it was my ability to tell the aldermen or councilmen of the City of Woodstock or really for that matter any other unit of government I represented, things they didn’t want to hear in the first place.

So I don’t regard the ongoing dispute as being a conflict of interest that would bar Mr. Nelson from serving.

That will be my order.

I want the trustees mentioned by name in any draft order that you give.

Now, I also advise– Somebody is going to have to advise these people if they don’t follow it– They are free not to follow it, but that will activate contempt proceedings.

MR. DICIANNI: Well, I would — I suppose I will have to do this by written motion, but I will be moving to stay the order pending appeal.

THE COURT: It’s not ripe.

MR. DICIANNI: Well, I think it is. It’s an injunction, and injunctions can be appealed–

THE COURT: Okay.