Kane Co. state's attorney investigating coroner's office

A special prosecutor is conducting an investigation of the Kane County coroner's office, officials said Sunday.

Kane County State's Attorney John Barsanti would not disclose who is being investigated or the nature of the allegations, but said he received some information in recent months that required him to ask for the probe.

County Coroner Chuck West confirmed the investigation Sunday, saying he didn't know the details, but that the motivation is "political" - a charge swiftly denied by other county officials.

Barsanti said Chuck Colburn, with the Special Prosecution Unit of the Office of the State's Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor, is handling the case.

The office is governed by 10 state's attorneys, including Barsanti, while the special prosecution unit consists of five experienced trial attorneys. The office assists in prosecuting criminal cases when a state's attorney's office faces a conflict of interest. Because the Kane County State's Attorney's office is the coroner's lawyer, the special prosecutor's office was called in to avoid such a conflict.

"I'm not in any way trying to imply I felt there was something to this, because I haven't come to that conclusion. That's what I want the special prosecutor to do," Barsanti said. "Because of the legal relationship (between the state's attorney and coroner's offices), I didn't think it was ethical for me to conduct any investigation on him."

He added that he has used the special prosecutor in the past, particularly on cases where the state's attorney's office was prosecuting defendants Barsanti once represented in private practice.

West said he has no knowledge of specific allegations.

"I have no details whatsoever on what the complaint is," he said. "... at this point I have not been informed of charges or anything else. So at this point, I'm in a holding pattern."

He said, "Until I'm actually called before the prosecutor, I won't even know what the allegations are."

West said he believes the probe is politically motivated, adding that Kane County Board Chairman Karen McConnaughay wants him out of office so she can choose a replacement.

"It's game-playing," said West, who said he will not run for re-election in 2012. "There is no question the chairman wants me out."

McConnaughay called West's remarks "ridiculous," but felt that any further comment would be inappropriate because of the pending investigation.

Kane County Board Member Mike Kenyon, who heads the board committee that oversees the coroner's office, defended McConnaughay against charges of a political vendetta.

"She's a straight shooter," he said. "She wouldn't do anything that wasn't right."

West also charged that McConnaughay has been standing in the way of an attempt by his employees to unionize. He said a vote on whether to unionize was taken on Dec. 18 but was unaware of the results.

As for the county opposing the effort to unionize the coroner's employees, McConnaughay said: "For me or the county board to have objected, we would have filed an objection with the state labor board. We have never stood in the way of any bargaining unit."