Hypocrisy is a fashionable vice, and all fashionable vices pass for virtue. – Moliere
Before you proceed, I would highly recommend reading the attached letter (below) from Ottosen, DiNolfo, Hasenbalg, & Castaldo, the Naperville law firm responsible for conducting independent investigations into alleged Elgin Police misconduct. That missive concerns Elgin City Councilman Tish Powell’s recent phone call to their office which we’re about to cover in great detail.
Clearly smarting from the catastrophe known as Elgin’s community task force on policing, councilman Powell, still determined to have it her way, somehow thought it would be a good idea to become a one-woman wrecking crew by blatant attempting to interfere with an ongoing investigation.
Apparently she’s been watching too many Miley Cyrus videos.
Let’s start with the blitheringly obvious fact that for any sitting alderperson to initiate that kind of communication is so far beyond the pale that the admonition about truth and fiction simply won’t suffice. And you all had the temerity to think John Prigge and Terry Gavin were the city council problem children.
There’s a reason they call them “independent investigations,” not the least of which is they must remain free from interference on the part of the municipality involved, or they wouldn’t be independent investigations, now, would they?
Imagine what would happen if every elected official called the FBI to get an update on their Trump top-secret document theft investigation. Of course, the feds would hang up on them before they could finish their first sentence, and that’s exactly what Ottosen DiNolfo should’ve done here.
If Powell truly wanted to better understand the process, she should’ve made a motion to invite the law firm to appear before the entire city council and provide the requisite presentation. That would’ve fully mitigated any appearance of impropriety, but a private phone call? Talk about putting yourself above the standard you so eagerly thrusts upon everyone else.
But as bad as this story already is, it’s about to get much worse.
You see, I made the mistake of assuming that Powell’s call was an attempt to “facilitate” the process on behalf of a friend who’d initiated an inquiry into some potential police misconduct. But nothing could be further from the truth. After digging a little deeper, I learned that our intrepid councilman had done just the opposite. Instead of coming down on the EPD, something she does with alarming frequency, Powell was trying to “help” a 911 operator who’s been accused of malfeasance involving excessive absences and lying about being vaccinated.
Oh! And this black female EPD employee is a friend of the councilman’s, too. So, while Powell was the driving force behind the Elgin citizens task force on policing, a group contrived for the sole purpose of reining in the Elgin Police, she’s undermining investigations into those same EPD employees in her spare time. Apparently, someone at Ottosen DiNolfo didn’t get the memo that they were only supposed to target white officers.
Once you understand that dynamic, it becomes abundantly clear that the sole purpose of her call was to intimidate the investigators.
Per her first question about notifying complainants, a veteran alderman like Powell knows damn well that they NEVER get a copy of the final report, and that’s true for any investigation into an any errant government employee. The City will notify the complainant of any specific disciplinary action, but the details leading up to that decision are exempt from discovery and FOIA requests.
Powell’s second question about blocked phone numbers is clearly an implied threat because it’s utterly immaterial. Everyone knows, or could easily figure out, that Elgin hired Ottosen DiNolfo to conduct these investigations. Call me crazy, but I’d also be willing to bet that any interested party could find their phone number on the InterWeb. So, what difference does it make if a number is blocked?
For reference purposes, Ottosen DiNolfo said they don’t block the numbers they call from.
As far as the “can they communicate by email” question goes, perhaps there are some Amish attorneys out there who shun the technology, but anyone willing to avail themselves of that law firm’s website would have no problem sending then an email. Better yet, after I Googled a few of their attorneys, their email addresses popped right up.
That brings us to Powell’s final question as to whether these investigations are ever “impeded by an inability to access information.” Oh c’mon! That’s just a thinly veiled threat accusing the investigators of failing to do their job. Powell’s essentially informing them that if they made a minimal effort to find the missing puzzle pieces, they’d rule in favor of her friend.
The only thing those inquiries are impeded by is Elgin an city councilmen who don’t understand what the word “independent” and the term “appearance of impropriety” mean.
To call the councilman’s competence into question, how could how could she possibly think this unrepentant meddling wouldn’t get back to the EPD, city hall, and the council? Corporation counsel, Bill Cogley, made sure every one of her compatriots received a copy of that letter. Then, because she possesses no backbone whatsoever, Powell didn’t even bother to show at last Wednesday’s city council meeting because she didn’t want to have to take the heat.
To summarize this sad situation one more time, the very councilman who makes a habit of calling out white police officers and issues incessant demands for them to be investigated, does her best to torpedo an independent inquiry into a black EPD employee – who happens to be her friend. Can you say, “Rankest form of hypocrisy?” I knew you could!
To all those liberal and progressive Elginites who would continue to support this poor excuse for an elected official, I would say this head-in-the-sand approach makes you no better than your average Trump supporter. There is no excuse for this kind of behavior and it shouldn’t be tolerated.
Since Powell doesn’t have the kind of self-respect to reign, it’s time to vote her out!
Letter from Ottosen, DiNolfo, Hasenbalg, & Castaldo to the City of Elgin:
I received a phone call out of the blue today from a woman who identified herself as Tish Powell, a City of Elgin Councilwoman. Ms. Powell said that she had received some inquiries from citizens concerning our procedures for the investigations that we do for the City. She said she reached out to me because my name had been on a number of investigations recently. Her questions were as follows:
1. How does the Complainant get notified of the outcome of the investigation?
I informed Ms. Powell that the report was considered confidential and that it was my understanding that the Complainant would not be provided with a copy of the report. I advised her that the ordinance contained a clause that provided that the Complainant would be notified about the results of the investigation, but did not specify how that notice would be given. I told Ms. Powell that I was unsure how the City was notifying the Complainants of the outcome, but that they were being notified.
2. Why are we (our firm, as investigators) blocking the phone numbers that we are calling from?
I informed Ms. Powell that it is not our practice to block the phone numbers that we are calling from and that the office number is not blocked. I told Ms. Powell that it was my practice to call from one of the office phones as much as possible and to not use my cell phone when conducting investigations. I said that I could imagine situations where phone calls were made from employee’s homes or cell phones that they did not want to show up when calling a citizen, but that I was not aware of any situations like that and that was not common practice.
3. Can citizens communicate with us via email?
I informed Ms. Powell that it was generally our practice to speak with people on the phone to conduct the interviews. However, I advised her that I had had a situation where one of the Complainants wanted me to see some photos and a video that she had concerning her complaint. On that occasion, I gladly provided my email address to the Complainant to forward her media. I advised Ms. Powell that I had frequently communicated with Elgin PD employees concerning internal investigations via email, but that I had not communicated much with citizens via email. I advised her that I was unaware of how much or if the other attorneys in the firm were using email to communicate. That being said, I advised Ms. Powell that we would certainly not have an issue using email to communicate with citizens if that is what they preferred as long as the emails were appropriate in number and content.
4. Do you feel that your investigations have at any time been impeded by an inability to access information? Ms. Powell gave the example of getting access to phone records.
I advised Ms. Powell that I had never had an issue getting the information I needed to corroborate or verify facts in any investigations that I had done for Elgin. Although I agreed that I could see that might be an issue in some rare occurrences, I thought that there would be a lot of legal issues with providing subpoena power, etc. for these type of investigations and that there were generally other ways to get the information without such excessive efforts.
Ms. Powell thanked me for the information and said she appreciated my time.
That’s it. Let me know if you need any additional information.
Ericka J. Thomas Ottosen DiNolfo Hasenbalg & Castaldo, Ltd.
