Report: Des Plaines leak probe inconclusive
An investigation costing Des Plaines $30,000 was inconclusive in determining who leaked confidential information to the Daily Herald, according to a report released Tuesday.
The city council in November approved hiring Chicago firm Hillard Heintze to review documents from city servers and conduct interviews of city staff and elected officials as part of an internal investigation. Aldermen voted Monday night to release a 64-page report compiling the firm's results.
In June, the Daily Herald obtained from a Des Plaines elected official and a staff member all or portions of an 11-page report detailing all active litigation involving the city. The documents, prepared by the city's lawyers, were marked "confidential - attorney/client privilege."
Releasing confidential information is against Des Plaines' code of ethics. Employees can be disciplined, up to dismissal, and elected officials can be censured by the council.
None of the 10 elected officials or three staff members interviewed by Hillard Heintze admitted to providing the Daily Herald with the confidential information, according to the report, and communication found in call log data, text messages and emails stored in city-issued cellphones could not be linked to the leak.
The report, however, does cast a cloud over some individuals who use their personal cellphones for city-related business but did not allow investigators to examine their personal phone records. Mayor Matt Bogusz, who said he rarely uses his city-issued phone, and his secretary, Nancy Peterson, denied forensic examinations of their personal phones, as did City Manager Mike Bartholomew, who does not have a city-issued phone, according to the report.
Alderman Don Smith, an attorney, also rejected a review of his personal phone because he uses it for his legal practice.
The report also states Senior City Clerk Annie Brzezinski forwarded Peterson a copy of a Freedom of Information request filed by the Daily Herald, which asked for a list of all active litigation brought against the city by current aldermen or their spouses. Brzezinski told investigators she often tells Peterson or Bartholomew about requests as a courtesy, though City Clerk Gloria Ludwig said there is no protocol for such action to be taken.
In January, aldermen voted 5-3 to pay Hillard Heintze an additional $10,000 for polygraph tests for the investigation, but Bogusz vetoed the measure the following month.
Several aldermen, however, received a courtesy rate and agreed to pay for their own polygraphs, which were completed Feb. 20, the report says. Aldermen Patti Haugeberg, Dick Sayad, Malcolm Chester, Jim Brookman, Jack Robinson and Mike Charewicz participated in the polygraph examinations. Charewicz initially voted against the city spending money on the tests.
Haugeberg, chairwoman of the city council's legal and licensing committee who proposed the investigation, could not be immediately reached for comment Tuesday.