Illinois (ECWd) –
We reported on the Citizens for Higgins court filings against numerous parties in this article.
We asked the campaign and the attorney the following.
- Can you provide any documentation that supports the allegation an agreement between the IL GOP and House Republican Office that the $50K in funds which the HRO transferred to the IL GOP is to be earmarked to pay for, or otherwise provide consideration, to the IL GOP for sending political mail on behalf of inter alia, Hammond?
- Would you please provide copies of all subpoenas issued in the 2026MR3 filing?
- Did the Defendants admit to the allegations in the case?
- Is it true that the case was dismissed based on a non-disclosure agreement?
We received a response from the attorney, Tom DeVore
“Mr. Allen,
This case was settled between the parties. Pursuant to that settlement, the parties agreed the matter would not be discussed publicly. In accordance with the terms of the non-disclosure agreement, my client has no comment. “
I responded with three simple but important questions.
- Is the agreement filed in the Circuit Clerk’s office? What about the subpoenas?
- Why on earth settle this if there were violations and conspiracy?
- What was accomplished in this whole process?
The response to those three questions is below.
“Mr. Allen,
The settlement agreement is not a public document and was negotiated between my client and the Defendants. The terms are not subject to disclosure. As such, my client is not in a position to discuss this matter.”
After our first article publication on this, we did receive 1 subpoena that was issued to Jeanne Ives, former State Representative and gubernatorial candidate. A copy of that subpoena is below, and we understand that she may have been the only central committee person that recieved one.
DeVore indicated I should contact Jeanie Ives for answers to my questions, so I did. She did not have answers to those questions and had no idea why DeVore believed she could answer them. She was able, however, to provide her position on the ILGOP being involved in direct mail campaigns as documented in her email from March 2023.
When an email was circulated to the ILGOP, Ives provided her response, found at this link, which indicates she was NOT in favor of the Illinois GOP being involved in mailing during primary races.
“If ILGOP does assist with direct mail campaigns, should ILGOP assist in municipal elections? If your answer is no, please explain why this is your answer. If your answer is yes, please answer questions numbered 2 through 12 below.”
Yes. Only partisan non-primary races.
“If ILGOP does assist with direct mail campaigns, should ILGOP assist in partisan primary elections? If your answer is no, please explain why this is your answer. If your answer is yes, please answer questions numbered 2 through 12 below.” NO
Ives confirmed she has not seen or signed any settlement agreement in the above case and has no clue why she was targeted for the subpoena.
The last communication from DeVore indicates the settlement agreement lays out what was accomplished; however, the public will never know what was accomplished because of the non-disclosure provision, which seems odd considering we all know transparency is the best disinfectant for bad actors in our political processes and government.
We call on both sides to release the agreement.
Binder1
