McHenry County Blog

One has to go back to 1957 to find the Legislative Digest listing of Sheila Simon’s mother’s bill that was held unconstitutional today by the United States Appellate Court.

That was Jeanne Hurley married Paul Simon and moved from the North Shore to Southern Illinois.

I’ve written the back story before, so won’t repeat in detail how Chicago newspaper reporter Jack Mabley’s Currency Exchange stories led to the West Side Blocksters to convince the good government legislator to sponsor a bill that would help the bad guys for 55 years.

Now take a look at the names of the Illinois House members that didn’t think people should be allowed to video tape and record of policemen doing their jobs :

Besides House Republican Leader Tom Cross, State Reps. representing parts of McHenry County who voted against the reform bill include Kent Gaffney and Tim Schmidt. Democrat Jack Franks was missing from the House floor today. State Rep. Mike Tryon voted in favor of the measure.

After Tom Cross and many Illinois House Republicans did their best to defeat a bill that would allow people to video police while they were doing their jobs, a Federal Court held the bill sponsored by then-State Rep. Paul Simon’s wife-to-be Jeanne Hurley to be unconstitutional.

The Senate side of the State Capitol as seen from the Northwest.

While the vote was 71-45 in the House before the Federal Appeals Court decision on constitutiionality, the Senate voted unanimously to loosen the 1050′sw “good government” bill.

Here’s the short version of what the bill does:

Provides that a person who is not a law enforcement officer nor acting at the direction of a law enforcement officer may record the conversation of a law enforcement officer who is performing a public duty in a public place and any other person who is having a conversation with that law enforcement officer if the conversation is at a volume audible to the unassisted ear of the person who is making the recording.

Provides that if a recorded conversation authorized under this exemption to the eavesdropping statute is used by the complainant as part of the evidence of misconduct against the officer and is found to have been intentionally altered by or at the direction of the complainant to inaccurately reflect the incident at issue, it must be presented to the appropriate State’s Attorney for a determination of prosecution.

Effective immediately [upon signature by the Governor].

I have written how reformer State Rep. Jeanne Hurley got snookered into sponsoring a bill in 1957 to prohibit reporters like Jack Mabley from using tape recordings of legislative corruption.

Hurley married Paul Simon and is Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon’s mother.

The retired State Representative who told me the story was Roland Libonatii.  After taking a busman’s holiday to the Illinois House Chambers, we were in the Amtrak Station waiting for the train back to Chicago.

Marvelous story of how those close to the Currency Exchange scandal took steps to try to prevent others from getting similar evidence of corruption.

So, now people have cell phones and record everything imaginable, even police making arrests.

And the policemen don’t like being held accountable.

You can see that from this recent YouTube taken by professionals across the street from a Chicago Hospital where a little girl had been taken after having been shot by a gang banger.  (Thanks to Illinois Review for pointing me to it.)

So, why is House Republican Leader Tom Cross leading the way to coverup wrongdoing?

You tell me. I didn’t hear the debate.

Here’s the 45-59-1 roll call vote on House Bill 1944:

Besides House Republican Leader Tom Cross, State Reps. representing parts of McHenry County who voted against the reform bill include Kent Gaffney and Tim Schmidt. Democrat Jack Franks was missing from the House floor today. State Rep. Mike Tryon voted in favor of the measure.

Here’s how the synopsis describes the bill:

“Provides that a person who is not a law enforcement officer nor acting at the direction of a law enforcement officer may record the conversation of a law enforcement officer who is performing a public duty in a public place and any other person who is having a conversation with that law enforcement officer if the conversation is at a volume audible to the unassisted ear of the person who is making the recording.”

Maybe I should just re-run this article entitled,

“Manipulating a Reformer,”

about how Jeanne Hurley, future bride of Paul Simon and mother of Illinois Lieutenant Governor Sheila Simon, sponsored and co-sponsored House Bill 1210 in 1957 to tighten eavesdropping laws in Illinois.

My source was former State Rep. Roland Libonati. He, some of his Democratic Party pals like Mike Nardulli and I were in the Springfield train station waiting to take Amtrak to Chicago. It must have been hear the end of the session, because the weather was pleasant.

He was telling how those not appreciative of Jack Mabley’s stories about bribery by the currency exchange lobbyist that resulted from tape recordings made by a party unknown and given to the Chicago American reporter.

Visiting Professor William H. Freivogel of the Paul Simon Policy Institute writes of how Illinois’ eavesdropping laws are among the strictest in the country.

Apparently he does not know of the role that his institute’s namesake and his wife had in enacting our state’s eavesdropping laws.

On to the second page of the Grafton Township Attorney’s bill last month for “Corporate” work.

The total for that category amounted to $8,343.75, but a relatively small amount of the $36,400 total monthly bill.

Below is the second page of the bill:

Page 2 of the Corporate part of the Ancel Glink March bill. Click to enlarge.

Since one of the duties mentioned for newly-hired Township Administrator Pam Fender was preparation of the agenda, I find it interesting that Township Attorney Keri-Lyn Krafthefer is still deeply involved in the process.

More information surfaces with regard the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office involvement in an investigation of what Linda Moore did with the township records after she was banished from her office.

It is interesting that Krafthefer seems to have billed the township $185 for writing a reply to Linda Moore concerning Moore’s “request (for her law firm) to withdraw as counsel.”

Let’s tiptoe through the Grafton Township Attorney’s legal billing for the month of March, 2010.

Because it’s so long—14 pages totaling $36,432.14—I’ll break it up for you so your eyes won’t glaze over.

Or at least they’ll have to glaze over every day for a couple of days.

You saw the $36,432.14 summary of the bill here.

Below you see the first page of what the law firm of Ancel Glink characterizes as “Corporate” work for Grafton Township. There are four more, which will be published one a day.

In this page of the Ancel Glink invoice, after workking on Township Administrator Pam Fender's job description, Keri-Lyn Krafthefer spends 4 1/2 hours at $185 an hour preparing for and attending the March 2nd budget workshop. She also reports work for Trustee Barb Murphy, Rob LaPorta and an unnamed trustee. The phone and financial records controversies come up, as does the bus schedule and changing of locks on Township Superivsor Linda Moore's office. Krafthefer also bills an hour and a half for organizing township files. Eavesdropping relating to Moore is addressed, as is David Moore's "recording of personal lienesses of township employees." Click to enlarge.

In four days, Keri-Lyn Krafthefer bills 14 hours at $185 per hour and associate Jason T. Olson bills 1.5 at $105 per hour, if my addition is correct.  There are three pages to come.

The following press release arrived from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago:

CHICAGO MAN CHARGED WITH PROVIDING MATERIAL SUPPORT
TO AL QAEDA BY ATTEMPTING TO SEND FUNDS OVERSEAS

CHICAGO — A Chicago man who claims to be acquainted with an alleged terrorist leader in Pakistan was arrested today on federal charges of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization for allegedly attempting to provide funds overseas to al Qaeda, federal law enforcement officials announced.

Chicago Sun-Times article from the day after the press release was issued.

Although the defendant, Raja Lahrasib Khan, a Chicago taxi driver and native of Pakistan who became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1988, allegedly discussed attacking a stadium in the United States this summer, there was no imminent domestic danger, officials said.

The investigation leading to Khan’s arrest is unrelated to a separate investigation that resulted  in federal terrorism charges against Chicagoans Tahawwur Hussain Rana and David Coleman Headley in connection with the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai and a plot to attack targets in Denmark, the officials added.

Khan, 56, of the city’s north side, was charged with two counts of providing material support to terrorism in a criminal complaint that was filed yesterday in U.S. District Court in Chicago and unsealed today following his arrest, announced Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  The investigation is continuing, they said.

Khan was arrested this morning while working in downtown Chicago without incident by the Chicago FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.  He was scheduled to appear at 3:30 p.m. today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Geraldine Soat Brown in Federal Court in Chicago.

“While there was no imminent danger in the Chicago area or elsewhere, these charges, once again, affirm that law enforcement must remain constantly vigilant to guard against domestic support of foreign terrorist organizations.  I am deeply grateful to the FBI agents and other members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force for their extremely hard work on this matter,”

said Mr. Fitzgerald.

Mr. Grant said:

“Over the past six months, FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Forces across the country have disrupted plots, charged and apprehended a number of individuals and secured significant intelligence, which has been of benefit here and to our allies overseas.

“Notable as most of these successes have been, it also illustrates the reality of the environment we face today, along with the critical responsibility domestic law enforcement agencies and intelligence services have in protecting the public from the violent designs of others.

“It is a complex threat that we face and we are pleased with the results today.”

“Today’s arrest and charges are the result of an outstanding cooperative law enforcement and intelligence effort and underscore the domestic and international aspects of the terror threat we face,” said David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security.

According to a 35-page complaint affidavit, by at least 2008, Khan, who claims to have known Ilyas Kashmiri for approximately 15 years, learned that Kashmiri was working with al Qaeda, and that Kashmiri was purportedly receiving orders from al Qaeda’s leader, Osama bin Laden.

According to Khan, during his meeting or meetings with Kashmiri, among other things, Khan learned that Kashmiri wanted to train operatives to conduct attacks in the United States; Kashmiri showed Khan a video depicting the detonation of an improvised explosive device; and  Kashmiri told Khan that he needed money, in any amount, to be able to purchase materials from the “black market.”

Chicago Tribune article the day after the press release was sent.

The complaint identifies Kashmiri as the leader in Kashmir of Harakat ul-Jihad-I-Islami (HUJI), a Sunni extremist group located in Pakistan and Kashmir with links to al Qaeda.

In a reported interview last October, Kashmiri purportedly said that he had joined forces with al Qaeda.  In January 2010, Kashmiri, together with a former Pakistani military officer, Rana and Headley, were indicted in Chicago for their alleged roles in a conspiracy to murder and maim persons in a planned attack against the facilities and employees of the Danish newspaper Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten, in Denmark, as retribution for the publication of cartoons that depicted the Prophet Mohammed.

The charges against Khan allege that on Nov. 23, 2009, he sent a money transfer of approximately $950 from a currency exchange located on North LaSalle Street in Chicago to Individual A, who was in either Mirpur or Bhimber, in Pakistan.

Khan later spoke with Individual A by telephone and instructed him to give “Lala” 25,000 Pakistani rupees (approximately $300) of the money he had sent.  According to the affidavit, Khan told an undercover agent that “Lala,” which means “older brother” in Urdu, is a nickname Khan uses to refer to Kashmiri, who he told the agent he had met most recently in 2008 in Miran Shah in northwest Pakistan.

Khan also told the agent that Khan believed that his telephones were being monitored, and if Khan or the undercover agent were ever questioned about their discussions regarding “Lala,” they should claim to have been referring to Khan’s actual older brother.

Just two weeks ago, on March 11, Khan and an associate, identified as “Individual B,” allegedly had a discussion during which they appeared to talk about attacking a stadium in the United States in “August.”

Among other things, Khan described that bags containing remote controlled bombs could be placed in several different locations, and then

“boom, boom, boom, boom.”

Khan further said that he would ask “Lala” [Kashmiri] to teach him how to conduct such an attack, the complaint alleges.  However, there are no allegations that Khan either knew Kashmiri’s current whereabouts or had yet discussed his stadium plan with him.

On March 17, after agreeing to personally deliver to Kashmiri any funds that the undercover agent wanted to provide, Khan allegedly accepted $1,000 (ten $100 bills) from the agent.

The complaint states that Khan accepted these funds after having had prior conversations with the undercover agent in which:

• Khan confirmed that Kashmiri was working with al Qaeda;
• Khan assured that Kashmiri would use the undercover agent’s funds to purchase weapons and, possibly, other supplies;
• Khan assured that he had provided Kashmiri with money in the past, including in approximately December 2009; and
• Khan discussed the possibility of having his son transport the money from the United States to England, where Khan would rendezvous with his son, retrieve the money, and deliver it to Kashmiri in Pakistan.

On March 23, government agents at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport came into contact with Khan’s son, who was traveling to England.  During this contact, agents discovered that Khan’s son possessed seven of the ten $100 bills that the undercover agent had given to Khan, according to the affidavit.

Each count of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.  If convicted, the court is required to impose a reasonable sentence under the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines.

The ongoing investigation is being conducted by the Chicago FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, with particular assistance from the Chicago Police Department, the Illinois State Police, and the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The prosecution is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher Veatch and Steven Dollear, of the Northern District of Illinois, with assistance from the Counterterrorism Section of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.

The public is reminded that a criminal complaint contains mere allegations that are not evidence of guilt.  The defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Ever hear of Roland Libonati?

He was a state senator while Jeanne Hurley (then) Simon was state representative from Evanston. Libonati later became a member of Congress representing the west side of Chicago.

I met him in the Springfield train station after session adjourned for the week one day in the 1970′s. He had been visiting old friends, sitting next to Larry DiPrima in the back row where the Royal Order of the Mushrooms sat.

At the train station, DiPrima introduced me to Libonati.

After a while he warmed up to me, concluding that I wasn’t a threat and started tell old war stories.

He told of how some non-reformers convinced Jeanne Hurley Simon to introduce legislation to limit secret tape recording. Here are the two I suppose he was referring to two 1957 bills, House Bills 1210 and 1211 (click to enlarge the Digest listings):

The idea came up after Chicago American reporter Jack Mabley had gotten a series of stories on corruption. Someone taped (see p. 28) legislators talking in their hotel rooms.

“The tapes had been stashed in lockers at the Greyhound bus station. Mabley got the keys anonymously,”

Statehouse reporter Ray Long wrote for the April, 1996, Illinois Issues when he was working for the Associated Press.

Hotel rooms had transoms at that time and the legislature’s verbal history has it that those willing to be bribed left their transoms open so lobbyists could toss money into the room.

Needless to say, Libonati, reportedly a member of the West Side Bloc beholding to the Crime Syndicate, did not convey that tale.

But he did say that his friends had snookered the woman who married Paul Simon into sponsoring legislation that he and his allies wanted passed.

He laughed as he explained that she thought it was a “good government” bill.

And, perhaps you will laugh at what Long printed about what former Governor and now sometimes lobbyist Jim Thompson told him:

“There’s no question that back decades ago Illinois, like many states, was kind of a wild and woolly place. My guess is today it’s probably about as clean as you can get.”

That was before the George Ryan and Tony Rezko trials, of course.