Allegations that Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Attorney General Kwame Raoul are lockstep on downplaying the scandal involving former Illinois State Police Merit Board financial officer and Pritzker campaign worker Jenny Thornley.
Dan Proft, host of Chicago’s Morning Answer on AM 560, discussed the case with Lake County resident Ted Dabrowski from Wirepoints.
“At a state level, this case of Jennifer Thornley, the former Illinois State Police Merit Board employee who made a false allegation of sexual harassment against the director (Jack Garcia) and committed crimes for which she has been charged (including) workers' comp fraud, falsifying timesheets at her place of work and that she kept going back,” Proft said in a broadcast on Tuesday. “She mentions this a lot. And if you look at the report, the internal report that McGuireWoods did, she keeps talking about, her political clout at the governor's office. There's the governor's office that pictures of her with JB and M.K., the first family.”
He said he's curious on why the governor's office would intervene on behalf of someone like this.
“It became clear that she had committed not only that she made a false allegation, but that she had committed crimes, and yet they intervened anyway? And it's a really curious case that's not getting near the attention it deserves, because it's another case study in the corruption that has beset Chicago and Illinois for – I don't know, since its incorporation,” Proft said.
Dabrowski answered emphatically that the case does not look good for Pritzker.
“This is one of those cases where it smells funny, looks funny. It's all alleged so far. But you've got a situation where Ms. Thornley, who was busted for basically taking money, eventually submitted a workers' compensation claim that eventually turned out not to be true and $500,000 was spent to find that out,” Dabrowski said. “And yet somehow that workers' comp claim was still given and it was Pritzker's office that allegedly stepped in to make it happen. And nobody knows why.”
Dabrowski said there's a lot of questions that need to be asked.
“Now Kwame Raoul is engaged, of course, and he said he was looking at it, that he had sent it out to another group to to work on. But the other group said, 'What are you talking about?' So it's getting interesting,” Dabrowski said.
Records unearthed by The Center Square show that Thornley texted first lady M.K. Pritzker telling her she needed her to pass the message along to Pritzker.
“I need JB to know what’s going on and hope they are keeping him aware,” Thornley said in a text, according to The Center Square.
Pritzker’s office did get involved in the case even extending itself to ensure her false workers' comp claim was paid out.
Despite the allegations, Raoul – who is up for reelection this year – called the case a “nothing burger” when asked about it at a press conference. Raoul's GOP opponent Tom DeVore has been vocal about the case on his Facebook page.
Raoul’s comments came despite the workers' comp payments to Thornley despite her allegations being disproved and facing criminal charges for defrauding the department.
Wirepoints has been following the case closely.
Both Wirepoints and The Center Square reported Raoul’s office apparently lied when it said it had passed the case on to the state appellate prosecutor’s office.
Thornley received $71,000 in workers' comp benefits after Pritzker intervened.
However, she still lost her job for which she was paid $86,400 per year after she falsified overtime and is awaiting criminals charges, according to capitolfax.com.
Alerts Sign-up