August 1, 2022
By: Mark Glennon*
Here’s the latest on the evasion and deceit in the Jenny Thornley saga.
We’ve covered background facts earlier. Suffice it to say that Jenny Thornley was a politically connected state employee who made a workers’ compensation claim for harm supposedly suffered in a sexual harassment — a harassment that never occurred according to an investigation concluded at the cost of $550,000 to Illinois taxpayers.
Valid questions include why the apparently fraudulent claim was nevertheless approved, whether any effort is being made to hold anybody accountable, what role Gov. JB Pritzker’s office had in approving it and why it would have done so.
The Center Square has now obtained an email clearly indicating that, despite claims by the Illinois Attorney General’s office that it referred the case out for the Illinois Office of the Appellate Prosecutor to handle, no such appointment has been made. The email, reproduced in full below, was sent by David Robinson, chief deputy director of the State’s Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor on Friday morning.
But that contradicts what Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office told Greg Bishop at The Center Square on Wednesday. “The Attorney General’s office moved the [overtime] case forward by referring allegations of theft and forgery to the State Appellate Prosecutor’s office, and criminal charges are pending against Ms. Thornley as a result,” Raoul press secretary Annie Thompson said.
It also contradicts claims made by Raoul himself later on Friday, when he attempted to explain his reasons for referring the matter out.