Washington-style intrigue will swirl through Des Plaines Monday when several aldermen say they’ll take polygraph tests to prove they’re not the source of a leaked document that has cast this northwest suburban town into an uproar.
It’s the latest chapter of a long-running drama that has seen private investigators comb through computer servers and interview elected officials and staff members in a thus-far-unsuccessful attempt to unmask the perpetrators.
When Mayor Matthew Bogusz vetoed the investigators’ request for more money to conduct polygraph tests, some aldermen vowed to pay for the exams themselves.
"I’m taking the test to show I didn’t do it, and I think we want to find out who did it," said Ald. Dick Sayad. "A lot of people want to forget about it. A crime has been committed and we want to find out what the truth is."
The turmoil began in June, when Bogusz proposed a measure that would require elected officials to disclose on an ethics form whether they were suing the city. He said the measure was prompted by an internal report listing every lawsuit facing Des Plaines, and though he didn’t say so at the time, one of them involved Ald. James Brookman.
The day after the mayor introduced his proposal, a story in the Daily Herald highlighted Brookman’s case — a workman’s comp claim stemming from an injury he suffered as a Des Plaines firefighter.
Des Plaines Fifth Ward Alderman James Brookman Lee V. Gaines / For the Chicago Tribune Des Plaines Fifth Ward Alderman James Brookman Des Plaines Fifth Ward Alderman James Brookman (Lee V. Gaines / For the Chicago Tribune)
The Herald said it had obtained the report that included Brookman’s claim from a city employee and an elected official, prompting some aldermen to demand an investigation. They said the document was protected by attorney-client privilege, and that its release violated the city’s code of ethics.
Brookman said Thursday that the leak might have been politically motivated. He had been thinking about running for mayor, he said, and the disclosure of his claim could have been intended to scuttle his campaign. He said the case shouldn’t even have been on the litigation list because he settled it in 2009.
"It puts me in a bad light — makes me look like I’m constantly suing the city," he said.
Though some aldermen said they regarded the document as confidential, city manager Mike Bartholomew said much of the information it contains is publicly available. Details of Brookman’s claim, for example, can be found on the website of the Illinois Workman’s Compensation Commission.
Even so, when every elected official in Des Plaines denied leaking the report, an all-out plumbing campaign began.
The city council asked the Cook County State’s Attorney and the Illinois Attorney General to investigate the leak. Those offices declined to get involved, so the aldermen voted unanimously to pay the firm Hillard Heintze up to $30,000 to conduct interviews and search emails and other electronic data.
The firm’s gumshoes did their work — Brookman said it involved looking through emails and phone records and interviewing aldermen and staffers — but then asked for another $10,000 to conduct polygraph tests.
Five of the city’s eight aldermen approved the request, but earlier this month Bogusz vetoed it, saying it was a waste of money.
"We paid Hillard Heintze for a report; they have charged us more than they said they would and we have no report, only a one-page memo asking for more money," he said in an interview Thursday. "I really question the credibility of the work to date."
Polygraphs are a controversial tool for arriving at the truth. They measure physiological responses such as blood pressure, sweating and respiration that supposedly can be linked to deception.
In an extensive research review, the National Academy of Sciences found that while the devices can differentiate between truth-telling and lying at a rate well above chance, they are not reliable enough to use in security screening. Courts also generally prohibit polygraph results from being introduced into evidence.
Bogusz’s objection centered on cost rather than accuracy, but he would not commit to taking an exam even after a local resident promised to foot the bill, saying he didn’t need a polygraph to tell the truth. He denied being the source of the leaked document.
The mayor’s office and four aldermanic seats will be up for grabs in April’s municipal election — Brookman ultimately decided not to run, though he said the workman’s comp flap had nothing to do with it — and Bogusz said the ongoing leak investigation was being used as a wedge issue.
"The timing really says it all," Bogusz said. "Why is it a conversation almost a year later? The few on our council who oppose our progress are intimidated by it, and try to grab onto anything (to derail it)."
But Ald. Malcolm Chester, one of five aldermen who volunteered to pay $200 apiece for their own polygraphs, said he was just trying to get to the truth.
"In my mind it’s never had anything to do with politics," he said. "It’s had everything to do with a violation of our ordinance and then someone trying to cover that up. I feel truly bound by my oath where I swore as an alderman to uphold the laws of the city of Des Plaines."
Brookman said he expected the polygraph results and Hillard Heintze’s findings to be discussed in closed session at Tuesday’s city council meeting.
Trump slams intelligence officials, media over ‘illegally leaked’ info, Flynn and Russia Julie Pace
President Donald Trump on Wednesday blamed the media and “illegally leaked” intelligence information for bringing down his national security adviser Michael Flynn, one day after the White House said Trump had asked Flynn to resign because he misled Vice President Mike Pence about his contacts with…
President Donald Trump on Wednesday blamed the media and “illegally leaked” intelligence information for bringing down his national security adviser Michael Flynn, one day after the White House said Trump had asked Flynn to resign because he misled Vice President Mike Pence about his contacts with…
(Julie Pace)
Leak investigations are a staple of Washington politics, with presidents from Bill Clinton to Donald Trump pledging to stem the flow of unauthorized information, but they are relatively uncommon at the state and municipal level, said Lucy Dalglish, dean of the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland and former head of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
She said federal law has clear guidelines about the type of information that is unlawful to release — classified documents, for example. States and municipalities tend not to have such prohibitions, so "there’s less to leak," she said.
Even at the federal level, leak probes often come up empty. Dalglish said that’s because culprits are too hard to identify, or because someone at the top actually did the leaking. But that doesn’t mean the exercise is pointless.
"One (consequence) this will have is that there will be a chilling effect in the future," she said. "Someone will think three or four times before (leaking documents) again — which is probably why they’re doing it."
John Keilman is a Tribune reporter; Brian L. Cox is a freelance reporter.
jkeilman@tribpub.com
Twitter @JohnKeilman
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