McHenry Co. (ECWd)-
Algonquin Township Clerk Karen Lukasik is no newcomer to Freedom of Information manipulation and games as she is the key reason for our initial 16 count FOIA lawsuit against the Township which is still moving forward as they have yet to produce requested records.
In November of 2017, Lukasik was facing quite a bit of scrutiny over her actions to include being sued and numerous public questions regarding her possibly being related to Bob Miller, the former Algonquin Township Highway Commissioner. Her social media response to that criticism is now a key subject of FOIA violations as well as further exposing the hypocrisy of Lukasik.
We submitted an FOIA request seeking the following.
- A copy of all posts made by the Township Clerk to the official Facebook page she used titled “Karen Lukasik Algonquin Township Clerk” I am seeking posts made in 2017.
- A copy of all names blocked from the “Karen Lukasik Algonquin Township Clerk” Facebook page.
The FOIA response provided from the Township Attorney James Kelly, once again, contained false information.
According to James Kelly, the FOIA officer Charles Lutzow states:
“The Township has no records which are responsive to your request. Karen Lukasik is not a
public body and her personal Facebook “Karen Lukasik for Algonquin Township Clerk” account was not
prepared for, used by, received by, possessed by or controlled by a public body, in this case, Algonquin
Township.”
See how the game gets played?
I did not ask for any information pertaining to a Facebook Page they cited in the response. They inserted one word to make it appear that I was seeking a personal page related to Lukasik’s election-related personal page, Karen Lukasik for Algonquin Township Clerk rather than Karen Lukasik Algonquin Township Clerk.
I responded to the Attorney with the following, of which to date we have received no response.
“Your FOIA response is past the obligated time frame. I will consider the response an improper denial.
I did not ask for her political Facebook information nor did I ask for the Facebook page you referenced in the response. I asked for the “Karen Lukasik Algonquin Township Clerk”, Facebook information which she declared was the official Facebook page for her office as Clerk.
It appears your trying to play games with the title by inserting a word that WAS NOT in my request. (Karen Lukasik “for” Algonquin Township Clerk)
Please provide the requested information and a proper response.
Kirk Allen”
Below is a screen capture of the very Facebook Page that was set up and used as the Township Clerk’s official page and you can clearly see, there is no three letter word “for” in the name of the Facebook Page as claimed by Lutzow and his attorney James Kelly. So clearly the response to our FOIA was a lie.
It gets better!
Note the last paragraph and the statement made by Lukasik.
“Again another tactic to divert since I finally have been granted access to the hidden camera surveillance. Shame on those that did that. Sick troubled people.”
Sick Troubled People?
Yep, she gained access to the video surveillance, and what people did not know that day is that it was Lukasik going through the Supervisor’s office without their knowledge to include allowing a private citizen free access to a public officials office and desks, all without their permission.
Lukasik has denied having any electronic images of the records she took pictures of and claims she has no record that she took out of the office, all in clear dispute of what was captured on the video surveillance.
So why Lukasik thinks it is others that are “Sick Troubled People“, we ask the readers to question, who is really sick and troubled?
Considering the Township lied on the FOIA response and refused to address the actual records requested it appears this group prefers litigation, of which depositions are sure to follow and it is clear, Lukasik wants no part of depositions, as pointed out in this article.
While she considers others “sick and troubled people“, she has no problem allowing non-public officials of the township go through people’s desks in secret and then deny key records existence even though the video proves otherwise. Couple that with the new self-enrichment efforts and we believe it may not be others that are sick and troubled as Lukasik has claimed.
We urge the citizens of Algonquin Township to demand the immediate resignation of Karen Lukasik.
You can review the most recent Lukasik articles here, here, and here.
1 Comment
jannie
Posted at 13:27h, 03 JuneIt has been my experience dealing with individuals who should honor foia requests and involved with a public body that they can skirt around things very easily – The AG was contacted that proper notice of the desposition of a property wasn’t given. It wasn’t voted on, but because the contract was less than x $ the ex dir. could contract to have a piece of property torn down without any sort of board approval. — no matter what the value of the property. This wasn’t in this township – but things go on all over.