Declaring his court would not be used for “a fishing expedition,” Cook County Circuit Judge Francis Barth tossed out a lawsuit alleging state Comptroller Loleta Didrickson used more than $100,000 worth of state employee time and telephone service for her U.S. Senate campaign.
Barth blasted the complaint–brought March 5 by Itasca Village Trustee Ronald Putzell–saying the court would not allow the “bootstrapping” of “thin allegations to be used, in effect, as a grand jury investigation of the office of a state official.”
Barth told Putzell’s lawyers that the law provides other options for their client, including seeking the assistance of the Cook County state’s attorney. At one point, Barth asked attorney Charles Hervas, who is representing Putzell, “If this wasn’t the eve of an election, would you be in this court complaining about personal phone calls?”
Hervas acknowledged that the election did “give rise to the inquiry.” Putzell’s attorneys have said he is not connected with the campaign of Didrickson’s rival, State Sen. Peter Fitzgerald, although Fitzgerald’s campaign manager, Mike Cys, was in the courtroom Friday.
Fitzgerald said he hoped the suit would be refiled in the appropriate jurisdiction.
Didrickson responded, “On the eve of the election, the Peter Fitzgerald campaign’s allegations, distortions and lies are beginning to unravel.”
Pot policy: In seeking to outline her differences with U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun (D-Ill.), Didrickson took a few liberties.
After noting in a CNN interview that she and the senator largely agree on abortion rights and gun control, Didrickson said, “She would legalize marijuana. I wouldn’t.”
Not so. Moseley-Braun has supported making possession of small amounts of pot a minor offense punishable by a fine.