* Speaker Madigan talked to reporters today after the House Democrats caucused. First up, why did he decide to release the Jack Franks search warrant…

Let me speak generally to the matter of Jack Franks. My interest and the interest of my office throughout has been the welfare and the privacy of the victim. And our investigation proceeded at all times at the wishes of the victim.

Early on, we notified Mr. Franks, that he should not go into the Capitol building, that he should not contact our employees. Later, we made sure that the Capitol Police knew that he should not come into the Capitol Building without an escort.

And then I was the one that called the Sangamon County State’s Attorney, advised the Sangamon County State’s Attorney that I wanted my attorney to come over and speak to him about a potential criminal event. That all happened. So my attorney and my human resources director met with the state’s attorney, the state’s attorney advised that we should work with the state police, which we did.

In terms of the matter of turning over the documents that’s a difference of opinion among lawyers. But throughout all of this, again, my interest is the welfare and the privacy of the victim.

* Madigan was then asked if Franks was such a danger that he had to be escorted by the police, why didn’t Madigan notify Franks’ constituents and colleagues about what was happening…

We are proceeding under the usual rules of these matters, which is, number one, to to protect the welfare and the privacy of the victim. And then at the appropriate time, we notified law enforcement. Once we notified law enforcement, the matter is in the hands of law enforcement.

And as I said earlier, I was the one who placed the ball at the Sangamon County State’s Attorney.

* “Why respond to a FOIA?” Madigan was asked. “I thought the General Assembly was exempt from FOIA”…

Well, again, this is a matter of a difference of opinion among lawyers, which I’m sure the lawyers will work through. So with all of that, thank you.

The GA isn’t totally exempt from FOIA. Several news organizations, you’ll recall, FOIA’d the Sandoval Statehouse search warrant from the Senate. But, yeah, it’s unusual to see MJM’s office respond to a FOIA so quickly, if at all. (Many thanks to Hannah Meisel for the audio recording.)