Unclear on the concepts
Thursday, Sep 4, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* WICS TV…
The legislators in charge of the investigation into Gov. Pat Quinn’s anti-violence program say they have not received all the emails they subpoenaed in July.
This morning, the Legislative Audit Commission went to the Department of Central Management Service in Springfield to supervise the search, and to make sure they can get all the information.
But the Governor’s Office told them they cannot access the system because of attorney-client privilege. […]
The Legislative Audit Commission says despite the setback, they will continue to pursue the emails. The federal investigation into the program is also reviewing emails as well.
Actually, no. The Legislative Audit Commission officially said no such thing, and it was a single member, GOP state Rep. David Reis, who went to CMS yesterday…
Rep. David Reis, R-Willow Hill, was not given access to state email systems by officials at the state Department of Central Management Services, who cited state and federal law and security concerns as the basis for their decision.
“The governor’s office and Gov. Quinn himself have repeatedly stated that they want to be open and transparent, and that anyone involved with this failed program should be open and forthcoming,” Reis said in a prepared statement. “What we witnessed today was a denial of my rights as a legislator to review state records. Quinn’s people are not following his own orders.”
Legislators do have some privileged rights, but, as we’ve discussed before, they can’t just break the law…
A CMS spokeswoman confirmed a visit by Reis and an accompanying computer forensic analyst to the agency’s Springfield offices Wednesday that lasted “several minutes” but referred questions to a letter acting CMS Director Simone McNeil sent to Reis on Tuesday.
“As a matter of security and because federal and state laws protect much of the information we possess, we cannot legally grant you or your expert access to our email systems,” McNeil wrote in her letter to him.
- Demoralized - Thursday, Sep 4, 14 @ 9:46 am:
Reis is being absolutely ridiculous. He’s doing this for show. Somebody on his side of the aisle needs to tell him to knock it off.
- Michelle Flaherty - Thursday, Sep 4, 14 @ 9:50 am:
Can’t imagine why they’d deny Rep. Reis and his handpicked inspector access to vital records.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64yianfGvzc
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Sep 4, 14 @ 9:54 am:
Reis is a buffoon. Got to stop sugar-costing the utter ignorance of those like Reis who just are pawns. I would call Reis a Mushroom, but that’s insulting the Myshrooms.
For someone claiming a privilege, how about learning the law.
Dope.
- VanillaMan - Thursday, Sep 4, 14 @ 10:06 am:
Someone wants to keep this scandal in the news with two months to go before the election.
Yeah - they must be a tad naïve, right?
- Madame Defarge - Thursday, Sep 4, 14 @ 10:10 am:
Claiming a privilege and having a privilege are two different things. It is unlikely that these emails were ever covered by Attorney client privilege and IF they were it is very likely that subsequent actions by various parties in and under the Governor have destroyed that status. Reis,is going about it wrong, but in the end he will be found correct. We are now in the Stonewalling phase of the investigation.
- Lincoln Lad - Thursday, Sep 4, 14 @ 10:11 am:
Rich - the GOP members of the Legislative Audit Commission would like to review the identity of those posting on your blog. They need to better understand who feels they cannot trample across people’s rights and elements of law in their quest to get a media moment that might get them recognized by Billionaire Bruce. There is serious money on the line here potentially, and they have a right to get to the bottom of it!
- Not Rich - Thursday, Sep 4, 14 @ 10:19 am:
This anti violence screw up his serious big time problems for PQ. Durkin needs to reign in jokers like Reiss, he is part of the back bench syndrome, and has no clue how to manage this Quinn fiasco properly..actions like this lead to irrelevancy for a lifetime
- wordslinger - Thursday, Sep 4, 14 @ 10:24 am:
Did Reis get a badge and a secret decoder ring in his Apple Jacks box or something?
This NRI federal investigation is serious business, but Reis is doing his best to make it a clown show. Not good politics.
- Norseman - Thursday, Sep 4, 14 @ 10:26 am:
Reis is a joke and others have addressed him appropriately. I’m just continually amazed by the bumbling and ineptness of WICS TV’s coverage of IL government. You’d think that the TV station in the state’s capital would do a better job.
- Wumpus - Thursday, Sep 4, 14 @ 10:29 am:
The Quinn government and all of you are simple obstructionists! What do you have to hide!? Some people will buy into this
- Arthur Andersen - Thursday, Sep 4, 14 @ 10:33 am:
WICS didn’t put the A-Team on this. If someone had been shredding those e-mails, they woulda been on it for weeks.
- LincolnLounger - Thursday, Sep 4, 14 @ 10:47 am:
Please stop “helping”, David. I know you love the attention, but leave it to Barickman and Sandack.
- Anonymoiis - Thursday, Sep 4, 14 @ 11:06 am:
Honest question: If they’re claiming some emails are covered by privilege, who reviews that claim to verify they are in fact covered by privilege? There had to be some review of it, or else what’s stopping them from privileging any document they want.
- walker - Thursday, Sep 4, 14 @ 11:07 am:
Really surprised Reis continued with this stunt, after being informed he had no legal right to do it.
Did he at least get a selfie of being ushered out of the office, to use in his campaign?
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Sep 4, 14 @ 11:16 am:
- Anonymoiis -,
The ambiguity makes this all fester against Quinn under the idea that a Federal, Criminal Investigation is currently being run by the United States Attorney…
That’s all that needs to be said until October.
Anything…any Dopiness like Reis’ is so counter-productive to dismantling Quinn, it makes it all look like a witch hunt.
Understand?
Stop “helping”.
- Demoralized - Thursday, Sep 4, 14 @ 11:18 am:
@Anonymoiis:
They are reviewed by legal counsel who makes that determination. Somebody could file a legal challenge if they believe documents are being improperly withheld.
- DuPage - Thursday, Sep 4, 14 @ 11:40 am:
This reminds me of something I read awhile back. Someone walks in and tells a local official they have a FOIA document for some information and that information MUST be given out or the local official will have broken the law. The local official then erroneously thinks he has to show them the documents requested, or be sued and lose their job for breaking a law.
Some things, like personnel records, are NOT supposed to be given out.
http://forthegoodofillinoispac.com/wp-content/uploads/Hinkles-Personnel-File-Email.pdf
- Leprechaun - Thursday, Sep 4, 14 @ 11:42 am:
Anonymoiis,Point on again by Willy. Let it fester and breath on its own like a fine glass of wine. Reis is only helping Quinn making it look like a dog and pony show….
- Buster Brown - Thursday, Sep 4, 14 @ 12:13 pm:
Reis is who he is. A showboat he’s not. Reis doesn’t go off half cocked and he must know there is something there. Time will tell if he’s right. For the time being though it’s quite entertaining to watch the Quinn minions freaking out as he’s nipping their feet.
- A guy... - Thursday, Sep 4, 14 @ 1:28 pm:
Don’t know enough about this particular guy to weigh in on the “attention seeker” angle, but it sure sounds like he knows what he’s looking for and seems to have a pretty good idea of where it is. I guess we’ll see.
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Sep 4, 14 @ 1:30 pm:
===it sure sounds like he knows what he’s looking for===
I don’t see how. He hasn’t said anything close to resembling that.
- wordslinger - Thursday, Sep 4, 14 @ 1:43 pm:
– but it sure sounds like he knows what he’s looking for and seems to have a pretty good idea of where it is.–
Seriously? What makes you say that?
One of the stranger and funnier aspects of this story has been the belief by some that members of the Legislative Audit Commission are some sort of super-detectives. Where that came from, I have no idea.
You’re lucky if you can get those guys to read the audits and stay awake during meetings.
- Formerly Known As... - Thursday, Sep 4, 14 @ 2:22 pm:
Come on.
You can’t just show up like that and expect them to hand over sensitive information.
This is the sort of thing Mautino, Barickman and the Commission should be working on jointly. Not these stunts.
- The Final Word - Thursday, Sep 4, 14 @ 2:37 pm:
1. The letters may have been sent by David Reis, but others in the Commission including the ones mentioned above were well aware of the actions and were consulted prior to the letters going out.
2. Legislators can have access to any information including Attorney Work Product and Attorney Client Protected information as long as it falls within the scope of their duties to represent or investigate. See Attorney Generals Letter titled Officials access to Information 2009ASSIST243 if you don’t think that is correct.
3. DLA Piper the law firm for Dr. Irving sent a letter to the Commission stating that Dr Irving was given 9 Microsoft Outlook PST files containing over 100k emails that were sent and received about six weeks after ending employment with the Governor’s office and those files are not protected by Attorney Client privilege. It goes on to say that they cannot be privileged because the Governor’s office waived all privilege when sending to Dr. Irving. Then details out how Attorney John Shomberg (Governor’s General Counsel) requested that certain emails be withheld from the Commission regardless of subpoena.
4. Rep Reis shared with CMS a protocol that protected privilege documents. The Rep was to oversee the keyword searches to see how many responsive documents there were. According to the Governor’s office they only have 2,000 total non attorney client protected docs from all the IVPA former employees, but was contradicted when Dr. Irving’s counsel sent 7k just from the files they had.
SOMEONE IS LYING. YOU CANNOT HAVE ATTORNEYS REPRESENTING INDIVIDUALS SAYING THEY HAVE MORE THAN THE TOTAL SUM THAT WERE RELEASED.
The problem you have is that the same 2,000 were given to the DOJ by a subpoena and now it would be hard to come clean without looking like you did not comply with the subpoena.
The Governor is caught in the corner on this one. Once you lie you cannot change your story.
- Paul Hinton - Thursday, Sep 4, 14 @ 2:39 pm:
Sounds like someone knows more than most on here!!!
- Demoralized - Thursday, Sep 4, 14 @ 2:45 pm:
==but it sure sounds like he knows what he’s looking for and seems to have a pretty good idea of where it is==
He doesn’t have a clue. What he does have is a desire to go on a fishing expedition. It was a complete stunt to go into CMS with his own personal auditor and demand to go through the computers in search of e-mail.
He sounds to me like a guy who has come to a conclusion and is now seeking the evidence to back up that conclusion.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Sep 4, 14 @ 2:45 pm:
===but it sure sounds like he knows what he’s looking for and seems to have a pretty good idea of where it is.===
“I have this list of known ‘X’.”
Reis is being played. If not, Reis can’t be too bright. Or, maybe both(?)
The political acumen here is lacking.
- A guy... - Thursday, Sep 4, 14 @ 3:35 pm:
== Rich Miller - Thursday, Sep 4, 14 @ 1:30 pm:
===it sure sounds like he knows what he’s looking for===
I don’t see how. He hasn’t said anything close to resembling that.===
Here you go, for the benefit of Sling as well. As FOIAs on emails frequently do, they contain cc’s that would lead one to believe there might be more evidence in the same “date” range as the email that provokes interest. Some email questions may not be answered in the scope of the emails viewed. That would mean expanding the parameters of the search until the response is located (or not). Email has changed everything in these fishing expeditions. The duplicative-ness of them makes it harder to simply delete every loose end and clue. I still believe this guy (Reis), who I don’t know, thinks he’s picked up a scent and he’s looking more specifically for something than taking a shotgun approach. That’s how I’m reading it. I could be wrong, but I’ve got a hunch he thinks he’s on to something.
- Formerly Known As... - Thursday, Sep 4, 14 @ 3:40 pm:
@The Final Word - it appears I may have spoken too soon. Thank you for sharing.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Sep 4, 14 @ 3:55 pm:
===. I still believe this guy (Reis), who I don’t know, thinks he’s picked up a scent and he’s looking more specifically for something than taking a shotgun approach.===
” picked up the scent”, lol, scent of what, how to break the law and look like a Dope in one swoop?
What is Reis, the LAC’s “Columbo”?
- A guy... - Thursday, Sep 4, 14 @ 3:59 pm:
Willie, see FKA’s post above yours. Then go where he’s referring to. Then rethink your response. Then a Hail Mary or two. Then Beddie bye.
- Demoralized - Thursday, Sep 4, 14 @ 4:04 pm:
@A Guy:
I thought the e-mail in question related to one person. If that’s the case then your cc: theory doesn’t hold water because those would have been picked up in the initial search. If I recall correctly in prior stories, Reis (or somebody) was referencing thousands and thousands of e-mails that weren’t turned over and at that time Rich rightly pointed out that number likely included the entire universe of e-mail related to this individual and not just NRI related e-mail. What Reis basically wants to do is come in and go through every single e-mail. What he is claiming is obstruction without any proof whatsoever of such obstruction existing. He is seeking to prove a conclusion he has already arrived at. I would have told him to go fly a kite too. This isn’t in any way, shape or form a proper way to handle an investigation. He’s making a mockery of it.
- A guy... - Thursday, Sep 4, 14 @ 4:46 pm:
Demo, Watching the whole FOIA process operate in the world of electronic communication is frustrating and fascinating at the same time. Press folks are notorious for filing and working “loose threads” that follow an electronic chain. Often, it can be the least involved person who was copied once in a huge trail or referenced where the key info is…if someone was trying to bury something. I’ve stated I may be off. I’ve stated I don’t know this guy Reis. His comments and what I read just struck me like he’s looking for something in particular. We’ll see. If I’m all wet, trust me…it will be pointed out more than once. lol
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Sep 4, 14 @ 4:50 pm:
- A Guy… -,
I will see how - Demoralized - theory plays out, thanks…
- Anon - Thursday, Sep 4, 14 @ 6:21 pm:
Reis is an talking head. Always has been. Always will be.
- Lincoln Lad - Thursday, Sep 4, 14 @ 6:27 pm:
Rep Reis - you did not pass go, and therefore cannot collect $200. Sorry, Billionaire Bruce
- Michelle Flaherty - Thursday, Sep 4, 14 @ 6:48 pm:
Wonder how many Bruce Rauner campaign emails are in Rep. Reis’ state account. Maybe Rep. Transparency could publicize his login and password so we could check. I mean, I’m sure these great ideas are all his own, right?
- Michelle Flaherty - Thursday, Sep 4, 14 @ 6:56 pm:
It’s been 7, wait, make it 8 minutes since I demanded access to Reis’ state email account. Time to march on his office. He’s hiding something.
- Lincoln Lad - Thursday, Sep 4, 14 @ 7:43 pm:
Note to self: If I become Governor, can I fire GOP representatives for incompetence? If so, need to put Reis on the list.
Regards,
Billionaire Bruce
Whoops - did I say that in front of a camera?
Not again!
- walker - Thursday, Sep 4, 14 @ 7:55 pm:
Anyone who can write in a comment ===”Reis doesn’t go off half-cocked”=== either doesn’t know Rep. Reis at all, or is Reis himself or his staff under an alias. That is all he ever does that’s noticeable.