Bianchi's office knew of files despite denying newspaper's request
Claiming they could not be located without an "unduly burdensome" search, the McHenry County state's attorney's office two years ago denied a Daily Herald Freedom of Information Act request for documents purporting to show State's Attorney Louis Bianchi had a secretary do campaign work on county time.
But within weeks of the denial, according to court records made public for the first time Wednesday, the state's attorney's office admitted knowing of those documents and used them to help launch a criminal probe against former Bianchi secretary Amy Dalby.
Bianchi said Thursday his office did not discover it had the files sought by the newspaper until at least two weeks after denying the Freedom of Information request.
The office's knowledge of the documents two years ago was among the revelations contained in 42 pages of previously impounded court records unsealed this week by McHenry County Chief Judge Michael Sullivan. The records also detail how a confidential informant's tip sparked the nearly two-year Dalby investigation, Bianchi's recommendation of who should lead the probe and special prosecutor David O'Connor's detailed itemization of his $59,093 bill to the county.
O'Connor's investigation eventually led to charges that Dalby, Bianchi's former personal secretary, illegally copied and removed about 5,000 computer files from her boss's office. Dalby, a 24-year-old student at Northern Illinois University, ultimately pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor computer tampering charge and was placed on court supervision for one year.
Last month, a new special prosecutor was appointed to examine Dalby's claims she did campaign work on county time, a charge Bianchi has denied.
In October 2007, the Daily Herald filed a Freedom of Information request with the state's attorney's office seeking specific documents, including letters to campaign supporters and information about political fundraisers, that Dalby said she had typed at Bianchi's behest.
The office denied the request, responding by letter that a basic search of the office's shared computer hard drive found none of the requested files, a more thorough search would be "unduly burdensome" and the documents sought were not "public records."
But according to a newly released affidavit by Bianchi's chief investigator, Ronald Salgado, the office conducted a forensic examination of Dalby's office computer after receiving the Daily Herald's Freedom of Information request. The search found that the documents the newspaper sought were saved on Dalby's computer hard drive.
The office later used that discovery in its petition for a special prosecutor's probe against Dalby.
"The forensic exam was conducted after (the Daily Herald) request was denied," Bianchi said Thursday. "I believe it was at the end of October."
Asked whether he then considered alerting the Daily Herald that his office had the documents after all, Bianchi said he does not recall that ever being discussed.
Among the other disclosures in the newly unsealed files:
• The probe began after an unnamed informant phoned state's attorney investigator Ron Salgado on Oct. 3, 2007, and disclosed that a former female employee "close to Bianchi" had transferred the state's attorney's files using a jump or zip drive.
• When confronted by state police investigators, Dalby admitted taking the files "under the direction of at least one other individual" and later had given the jump drive to someone else, according to the Salgado affidavit.
• Among the files taken by Dalby, the affidavit states, were investigator requests, memos to personnel files and memos regarding a murder case. The affidavit makes no mention of campaign-related or political documents Dalby said she created at Bianchi's behest.
Salgado's affidavit, along with a petition signed by Bianchi, led Sullivan on Nov. 29, 2007, to appoint O'Connor, a former assistant Cook County state's attorney, as a special prosecutor to look into the accusations.
Dalby has said she took the files to prove she did political work for Bianchi on county time. Last month a judge appointed retired Judge Henry Tonigan III, the former chief judge for Lake and McHenry counties, as a special prosecutor to investigate those allegations.
The documents unsealed Wednesday do not reveal the name of the confidential informant who tipped off Salgado. Dalby, however, said earlier this year that authorities told her the informant was someone working on the campaign of Daniel Regna, who unsuccessfully challenged Bianchi in the 2008 Republican primary.
O'Connor previously said Dalby turned the files over to people associated with the Regna campaign. His probe into the stolen files formally ended Sept. 1, with no one other than Dalby charged in the case.