IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS

COUNTY DEPARTMENT, CRIMINAL DIVISION

IN RE APPOINTMENT OF
SPECIAL PROSECUTOR

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CASE NO. 2011 MISC. 46

HON. MICHAEL P. TOOMIN

BETTER GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATIONS RESPONSE TO CITY OF CHICAGOS

MOTION TO MODIFY ORDERS
As Judge Mikva correctly found, the Freedom of Information Act does not recognize an
exemption for records subject to a protective order. Rather, it is the exclusive province of the
General Assembly to create FOIA exemptions. Moreover, Judge Mikva correctly found that
under Better Government Association v. Blagojevich, grand jury subpoenas and related
communications are non-exempt public records that must be disclosed. BGA recognizes the
position in which the City now finds itself has created issues for the City. BGA contends that the
City should have filed the motion it now files when it first received BGAs FOIA request,
instead of forcing BGA to undertake a FOIA lawsuit. That said, BGA does not oppose the relief
the City seeks.
It remains unclear to BGA whether the Office of the Special Prosecutor was aware of the
legal principles relied upon by Judge Mikva when it sought the protective order purporting to
make these records secret. It was certainly aware once BGA filed its brief before Judge Mikva,
and even if it disagreed, it is now unquestionably aware of what the law requires and that the
order the OSP sought requires public bodies to violate FOIA. Presumably that was not OSPs
intent, and presumably OSP will not oppose the Citys motion. Frankly, OSP should have filed
this motion because OSPs failure to account for FOIA in the order it sought from this Court

created this situation in the first place.

BGA questions what legitimate purpose is served by any further secrecy surrounding this
matter. Mr. Vanecko has already served his 60 days in jail, nobody else was charged, and no
further investigation appears to be ongoing. OSP already obtained permission to release its
report, and there are substantial details about the investigation on the Winston & Strawn
website. 1
The public interest in full disclosure of these records is tremendous, especially in the
present environment, in which instances of police misconduct have been so graphically exposed.
OSP has no good faith basis to continue to keep secret information about its work here and
should be asking this Court to allow the OSP to release all of its records, just as it asked this
Court to allow it to release the report. If not, this Court should sua sponte order it released. The
time has come. The investigation and prosecution are over. The public deserves to know every
detail.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
Matthew V. Topic
____________________________
Attorneys for
Better Government Association
Matthew Topic
LOEVY & LOEVY
312 North May St., Suite 100
Chicago, IL 60607
(312) 243-5900
matt@loevy.com
Atty. No. 41295
1

http://www.winston.com/en/thought-leadership/winston-s-dan-webb-serves-as-specialprosecutor-in-matter-of-the.html
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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
I, Matthew Topic, an attorney, certify that on March 21, 2016, I caused the foregoing
Better Government Associations Response to City of Chicagos Motion to Modify Orders to be
served via electronic mail on all counsel of record.
/s/ Matthew Topic

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