Subject: RE: 2014 PAC 30503 (Second Response to CookCounty Clerk)
Please forward this to Mr. Madden.
Mr. Madden,
This is what I am sending to Mr. O'Brien at the AG's Office in response to your second response on this issue.
The statement about Section 4A of the Illinois Governmental Ethics Act is incorrect. Please read below and I urge you to please read the statute also to ensure I did not miss anything. Please do not try to delve into the depths of word games since most "full mailing addresses" are home addresses otherwise it would be difficult to tell where a person lived to determine if they are residents of the public body they got elected to. In the alternative, you are more than welcome to provide me with the SEI, electronic, scanned, or paper versions, without redacting the "full mailing address" and I will consider this closed.
I still insist that the FOIA applies this "other law" requiring additional disclosure:
(5 ILCS 420/4A-106)
Sec. 4A-106...All statements of economic interests filed under this Section shall be available for examination and copying by the public at all reasonable times…
Additionally, if the Cook County Clerk is not collecting the "full mailing address" with the SEI it is violating the Illinois Governmental Ethics Act since that Act specifically states that the SEI's "shall contain substantially the following:"
Finally, by the General Assembly stating not to post the addresses of the filers onto the internet, I'm sure we can all agree that statement did not eliminate the requirement for the filer to provide that information with their electronic filing. I also believe the Cook County Clerk has the "full mailing address" in the electronic database.
I am only asking for what is required to be submitted on an SEI and what is required to be provide pursuant to FOIA.
Section 4A-103 states in part as follows (I inserted the RED arrow for clarity):
(5 ILCS 420/4A-103)(from Ch. 127, par. 604A-103)
Sec. 4A-103. The statement of economic interests required by this Article to be filed with the Secretary of State shall be filled in by typewriting or hand printing, shall be verified, dated, and signed by the person making the statement and shall contain substantially the following:
STATEMENT OF ECONOMIC INTEREST
(TYPE OR HAND PRINT)
......
(name)
......
(each office or position of employment for which this statement is filed)
......
(full mailing address) <------
GENERALDIRECTIONS:
The interest (if constructively controlled by the person making the statement) of a spouse or any other party, shall be......
------
Section 4A-104 states in part as follows (I inserted the RED arrow for clarity):
(5 ILCS 420/4A-104)(from Ch. 127, par. 604A-104)
Sec. 4A-104. The statement of economic interests required by this Article to be filed with the county clerk shall be filled in by typewriting or hand printing, shall be verified, dated, and signed by the person making the statement and shall contain substantially the following:
STATEMENT OF ECONOMIC INTERESTS
(TYPE OR HAND PRINT)
......
(Name)
......
(each office or position of employment for which this statement is filed) .
(full mailing address)<------
GENERALDIRECTIONS:
The interest (if constructively controlled by the person making the statement) of a spouse or......
Thanks for your assistance,
John Kraft
From: Clerk Ethics (CountyClerk) <>
Sent: Monday, August 25, 2014 11:27 AM
To: John Kraft
Cc: Kirk Allen
Subject: RE: 2014 PAC 30503
Dear Mr. Kraft;
The CountyClerkforwarded thefollowing response to the Illinois Attorney General today.
Thank you for contacting the Office of CookCounty Clerk David Orr. Please let us know if we can be of further assistance to you.
PhillisY Laster, Manager
Customer Service
Office of CookCounty Clerk David Orr
Customer Service
312/603-1121
Dear Mr. O'Brien,
Mr. Kraft emailed the Cook County Clerk his response to your office - dated today, August 25, 2014 - to my August 12, 2014 letter regarding the above-captioned matter.
Mr. Kraft makes the assertion, in the first paragraph on page 2 of the emailed version of his letter, that "... home addresses are still
required to be submitted by the filers ...." His point is that since home addresses are required from filers, then they are subject - in his opinion - to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. He argues that the Illinois Governmental Ethics Act is one of the "other laws" that creates additional disclosure requirements.
However, Article4A of the Illinois Governmental Ethics Act does not require filers of Statement of Economic Interests report their home addresses, so this argument fails. Indeed, the word "home" does not appear at all in Article 4A. What the Article does call for is a mailing address, but since theSEI's in question were requested of the filers electronically and then filed electronically, that address is, obviously, an email address. Those email addresses are - with one exception - "orlandparklibrary.org" addresses.
But Mr. Kraft has made it clear the he wants to reach beyond what is required for theSEI and get private, home, physical, residential addresses. Those, the Cook County Clerk maintains, are not subject to disclosure, for the reasons set forth in the August 12 letter.
Dan Madden
From: John Kraft [xxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Monday, August 25, 2014 8:15 AM
To: Clerk Ethics (CountyClerk)
Cc: Kirk Allen
Subject: Re: 2014 PAC 30503
Cook County Clerk,
Please see the attachment for my response to the Cook County Clerk's response to 2014 PAC 30503 and please forward this email to:
Daniel P. Madden, Legal Advisor to the CountyClerk.
Thanks,
John Kraft