Lawlor Quietly Submitting FOIA During His Investigation
Chicago (CBS) -- It remains one of the biggest election cycle bombshells. Aaron Lawlor, the former Chairman of the Lake County Board, abruptly resigned, entered rehab for drug abuse and is now under criminal investigation for misspending county money. He may also have run afoul of campaign laws.
All that, and all have really been mum at a recent board meeting.
"As you well know, there is an ongoing investigation by the Illinois State Police," board member Carol Calabresa stated. "At this time with an ongoing investigation, we should not be talking about it."
RELATED Report: Questionable Spending On Lake County Officials' Taxpayer-Funded 'P-Cards'
No one's talking about it, but CBS 2 investigated Lawlor's recent activity. He's apparently been using the Freedom of Information Act to try to find out who was trying to find out about him. CBS 2 submitted FOIA requests for those Lawlor submitted. We found out that Lawlor submitted a FOIA on Sept. 25 for Lake County spokesperson Jennie Vana looking for a number of things including emails pertaining to FOIA, "P-card", statements and Lawlor.
Lake County Administrator Barry Burton said he has no idea if Lawlor will face criminal charges for what he did.
Burton didn't sign off on Lawlor's county-issued "P-card" expense card, because there were unreconciled expenses for the months of July, August and September. The county brought in a firm to look at the "P-card" issue -- the card issued to some county employees, like a debit card.
"They did identify a few areas where we need to tighten up our policies, but what they did not find was widespread misuse," Burton said.
CBS 2 reached out to Lawlor today but has not received a response. Illinois State Police are handling the ongoing investigation.
