Kiss At Center Of Lyons Township Video Controversy

LA GRANGE, IL – A controversy over video from the Lyons Township clerk's office appears centered on an after-hours kiss.

On Sunday, the township's elected clerk, Elyse Hoffenberg, submitted a complaint to the state attorney general's office, asking for an investigation.

On Friday, three of the township's four trustees called an emergency meeting for Monday evening at the township's office; it was canceled late Monday morning. Hoffenberg deferred to the trustees on the reason.

The trustees had planned to vote on an independent investigation into allegations of surveillance, harassment and political harassment.

The trustees appear to be focused on the township's supervisor, Christopher Getty. They want to look into whether Getty worked with Liz Gorman, Hoffenberg's Republican opponent in the District 17 Cook County Board race, to get surveillance video from Hoffenberg's office.

In her complaint, Hoffenberg, a Democrat, released a text message sent to her husband since the trustees called the emergency meeting.

"As a friend you need to know that Elyse calling for Emergency Meeting on Mon evening was gigantic mistake," the person wrote. "Just like sending a press release alerting media while lying to the press about being alone at the office. When they get the video it will show who Elyse was with for over an hour."

The person continued, "Feel sorry for you and the girls having to go through this. She getting bad advice from somebody and we all know who."

In an interview Monday, Gorman said she hadn't seen the video in question but was told it involved a "romantic kiss" between Hoffenberg and Steven Landek, Bridgeview's mayor and a former Democratic state senator. Such activity, she said, should not have taken place in a government office.

Asked who told her what was on the video, Gorman said it wasn't important. She said she has a lawyer and that they would get the footage.

In an interview, Hoffenberg described the kiss as a "peck." She said she immediately told Landek that it was inappropriate and unprofessional. She said he quickly apologized.

Patch left messages for comment Monday morning with Landek.

In her complaint, Hoffenberg described the message to her husband as threatening and that it appears to refer to the release of the surveillance video.

Among other things, she asked the attorney general to look into whether the text message is connected to the video and whether it indicates that unredacted recordings may have reached people who may use them for harassment, fraud or extortion.

She told Patch that she doesn't have access to the videos currently, saying someone else does, perhaps Getty. She said she would be willing to show the footage in question to anyone.

On Aug. 3, Gorman, an Orland Park resident, requested all footage from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. from July 6 to July 20 in the township clerk's office.

In response, Hoffenberg, who handles Freedom of Information Act requests for the township, declined the request, saying it was "unduly burdensome," an exception under the law. She said the request involved more than 100 hours of footage from multiple cameras. She asked Gorman to narrow it down.

Gorman did so. She asked for the footage from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. July 13 and 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. July 16. The deadline for responding to that request is Tuesday.

In the complaint, Hoffenberg said she welcomed cameras after a ski mask-wearing "First Amendment auditor" frightened her staff in January. Getty authorized two cameras in the clerk's office, a workspace not open to unrestricted public access, she said.

"I did not understand that individuals outside my office would have access to surveillance of its interior," Hoffenberg said.

That access is concerning, she said, because the township clerk's office accepts disability parking placard applications and supporting medical documentation and provides notary services for residents presenting personal, legal, financial and other sensitive documents.

Hoffenberg questioned the specificity of Gorman's latest request.

"How did the requester identify those particular cameras, dates, and hours from among potentially hundreds of hours of surveillance?" Hoffenberg said.

Hoffenberg alleged apparent unauthorized access to the surveillance camera footage that had been archived for Hoffenberg's official Freedom of Information Act review.

In the complaint, she said the township's camera vendor told her that Getty downloaded five selected recordings within hours after the vendor created the archive.

"Those recordings had not yet undergone FOIA review or redaction," Hoffenberg said. "Getty's apparent ability to identify and download particular files from a much larger archive have the hallmarks of electronic surveillance stalking."

Hoffenberg said in the complaint that she was informed the township's attorney, Burt Odelson, already knew of the data leak but did not inform her office. Odelson's law firm has given $95,000 over the years to Getty's campaigns for supervisor and Lyons mayor.

In her complaint, Hoffenberg said she had Landek approach Odelson about the video situation.

In an email to Patch over the weekend, Getty said, "The cameras were installed at the Clerk’s direction to the security company. The township has not released the requested video footage. It is imperative the township clerk follows the law when a records request is made."

Odelson did not return a message for comment.