Anti-Transparency Sandra Pihos charged with shoplifting –

LOMBARD, IL. (ECWd) –

Former 12-year Illinois State Representative Sandra Pihos was arrested by Lombard Police Department and charged with misdemeanor shoplifting late September.

According to the Chicago Tribune, she was arrested on September 26, 2017 and posted $1500 Bond for allegedly shoplifting (“Retail Theft of less than $300) from Von Maur in Lombard. According to DuPage County court records, she has a court appearance on November 3rd at 9 a.m.

Pihos was a 6-term State Representative who served from 2003 to 2015, and was beaten in the primary by Peter Breen, who took office in 2015. She most recently campaigned for Trustee of the College of DuPage.

One of Pihos’ final actions as a legislator, other than skipping out on important votes (here and here), was to shaft citizens interested in holding their local governments accountable through the Freedom of Information Act.

While she campaigned for Trustee of College of DuPage she issued witty quotes printed in the Daily-Herald like “I believe there is a need for transparency” while at the same time standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Frank Mautino, a self-admitted FOIA violator who is currently under several investigations for his campaign expenditures, in voting in favor of a bill to force FOIA requesters who meet a certain category to fork out outrageous fees for public records:

Fees for data:
2 MB – $20
4 MB – $40
>4 MB – $100

Fees for PDFs:
80 MG – $20
80-160 MB – $40
>160 MB – $100

We wrote about the passage of this bill at the time, and suspect it was aimed at our activities at the College of DuPage, but they exempted media requests from the fees, so it did not apply to us, but rather the rest of the population. In my opinion it should be challenged in court as unconstitutional by the first person forced to pay those fees.

UPDATED to correct the number years in office and number of terms served.

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