As Calumet City prepared to ticket a Daily Southtown reporter for allegedly harassing city employees as he worked on gathering information for a news article, Mayor Thaddeus Jones also asked police to seek a court order prohibiting the reporter from entering City Hall or contacting city employees, records show.
No paperwork was filed in Cook County Circuit Court, however, attempting to secure an order of protection against the reporter, Hank Sanders, an attorney for Calumet City said Tuesday.
Calumet City cited Sanders under municipal ordinances, alleging he harassed city employees. The three citations carried fines of $750, plus an additional $250 for each day that passed and fines were not paid.
The city quickly pivoted and withdrew the citations, which had been mailed to him.
In an Oct. 20 email from Jones to police Chief Kevin Kolosh, with other city employees and city attorneys copied, Jones instructed the chief to have officers take statements from city employees, including himself and the director of public works, to prepare the citations, according to a public records request filed pursuant to the state’s Freedom of Information Act and recently received by Sanders. The memo directed fines be $750 and $250 each day.
Jones, who is also a state representative, also directed attorney Dominick Lanzito, with the Chicago-based firm Peterson Johnson & Murray, to file for an order of protection that would have prevented Sanders from entering City Hall as well as “contacting or harassing employees,” according to the email.
Lanzito said Tuesday that “there was no order of protection filed” in court, but that he couldn’t say when the direction came reversing Jones’ order.
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“I can’t speak about any communication between the city and myself. It’s attorney-client privilege,” Lanzito said.
Sanders attended a Nov. 9 City Council meeting at City Hall and was not denied entry.
The Southtown, which is owned by the Chicago Tribune’s parent company, published a story online Oct. 19 and in print Oct. 20 in which Sanders reported that consultants had informed Calumet City officials that their stormwater facilities were in poor condition before September’s historic rains caused flooding.
A day after the story was published, Sanders continued to report on the issue, drawing complaints from city officials, including Jones.
On Nov. 6, Calumet City attorney Patrick K. Walsh sent a Tribune lawyer a letter dropping the citations.
In his letter, Walsh said city employees “have a right to refuse to speak with” Sanders. But, Walsh added: “I understand it would be Mr. Sanders’ position and your argument that he was not harassing anyone. As you know, I was not a witness and have no interest in bickering about it.”