SAUK VILLAGE | The Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office has determined that "further inquiry" was warranted into the Village's denial of one of our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for information regarding Village Clerk Debbie Williams and her daughter Village Trustee Rosie Williams' trip to Washington D.C. back in July, 2013.
The FOIA request originally was a four-part request for information requesting among other things documents regarding the Building One America Summit, including attorney fees for the investigation conducted by the Village's attorney, donations and sponsorships. The Village denied the request in a letter from the Village Attorney Michael McGrath on August 22nd.
The Attorney's General office responded in their letter stating "We have determined that further inquiry into this matter is necessary to confirm the Village has complied with its obligations under FOIA. Please provide to this office a written explanation of how the Village searched for responsive records". McGrath tried to downplay the significance of the letter at a village board meeting stating that these are simply "form letters".
In the request filed with the Attorney's General office the contradictions are pointed out including Debbie Williams stating at a public meeting on July 23 that this was "a personal trip" then later stating that she was asked to represent the Village of Sauk Village. Debbie Williams also stated at the same meeting "until the Village Attorney tells me I have to provide the information I will not" she said.
The Village also responded to the Attorney General with a generic spreadsheet page showing how much they charged the Village for the investigation that they allegedly conducted into the legality of the Travelgate scandal, however, they did not provide any billing invoices or information which was requested as part of the original FOIA request.
The Attorney General has been seeking that very information that Williams refused to provide as the Village did not state that the information was "exempt". We have requested that the Illinois Attorney General issue a "binding opinion" and find that the Village violated the Freedom of Information Act because it failed to provide information clearly falling under the public domain for which the Village refused to provide.
The Illinois Attorney General continues their investigation into the matter and we await their findings which are likely to occur after the first of the year. We will keep you posted on these ongoing matters.
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