From the Chicago Tribune:
The losing candidate, Ebony Lucas, filed a defamation suit claiming a “coordinated smear campaign.”
The jury agreed and awarded a total of $1.4 million
The format of the negative mailings were similar to the hit pieces against McHenry County Clerk Joe Tirio in that they were footnoted. Those anonymous hit pieces were eventually traced to McHenry County Board Chairman Jack Franks. The judge found for Tirio after being told by the 2nd Appellate Court to take another look at the case after he had originally dismissed it.
“The ‘sources’ cited in these [Chicago] mailers proved those statements were false, but were used anyway, showing a ‘reckless disregard for the truth or falsity of the defamatory statements,’” the Tribune reported.
Unlike in the anti-Tirio mailings, however, there was no mystery as to who paid for the hit pieces.
In this case, it was Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s 4th Ward Democratic Organization and Ald. Lamont Robinson’s campaign fund.
Robinson said he would appeal.
Preckwinkle’s attorney was Keri-Lyn Krafthefer, the same one who was hired by the Grafton Township Board in its fight with Supervisor Linda Moore.
Krafthefer told the Tribune “it ‘really blows wide open’ the state’s defamation law related to political campaigning.”
Krafthefer lost the Grafton Township case, even after appealing her Circuit Court loss to the 2nd Appellate Court.
