Judge rules Skoien's divorce not an emergency

A Cook County divorce court judge turned down a request to order former Cook County GOP Chairman Gary Skoien not to leave the state with his and estranged wife Eni Skoien's three children.

Eni Skoien had filed a motion Thursday saying she "is fearful that the respondent will move the children out of the country" this weekend, but in court Friday her lawyer said only that the children were being taken to Colonial Williamsburg for a preplanned holiday with their father and Eni Skoien had no information on where they would be for approximately the next 10 days.

"We don't even have an itinerary for them," said Eni Skoien's lawyer Bert Saczek.

The judge ruled the request did not constitute an emergency, and she declined to interfere with an existing order from another Cook County judge that prohibits Eni Skoien from contacting the children.

"A judge saw fit to enter a protective order ... and it is in effect until March 31st," Judge Lisa Ruble Murphy told Eni Skoien's lawyers, Saczek and Nancy Lee Carlson.

Gary Skoien's lawyer Jason Adess asked if that meant the judge was ruling the request not to be an emergency, and she said it did.

Later, outside court, Carlson said Eni Skoien simply wanted to keep tabs on her children, whom she hadn't seen since being arrested on charges of domestic battery March 9.

The allegation of leaving the country "was just total misrepresentation," said Gary Skoien's lawyer, Mary Clark.

Police say Eni Skoien caught Gary Skoien in their Inverness home with two prostitutes on that day and then struck him with a toy guitar. Skoien, police say, admitted to the responding officer the two were prostitutes, but he later denied that to reporters. The police are standing by their report.

Eni Skoien's lawyers will now seek to consolidate the order of protection case with the divorce case, which will be heard again on March 31. They also are seeking to nullify a prenuptial agreement made before the couple's April 9, 1996, wedding.

Eni Skoien's lawyers say she did not understand the document, which was not in her native language, and that she did not have any opportunity to review it with a lawyer before signing. They also charged that Gary Skoien misrepresented his true assets in the document.

"I need to have my children back," said Eni Skoien after court.

Although Skoien has alleged in court papers that Eni Skoien frequently hit him and the children, his attorney Clark may have offered somewhat of a truce after court.

"Gary is a victim of domestic abuse. His first and foremost concern is the safety and well-being of his children, ... Obviously his wife has some issues with anger control," Clark said. "If she begins to deal with those issues, he will act accordingly. But otherwise he's going to pursue his rights as a victim in the criminal case and his rights as a parent in the (divorce) case and do everything he can to protect his children."