Feud Between Mayor, Trustee Intensifies After Series Of Ethics Complaints Investigated

Tinley Park IL

07 February, 2022

2:06 PM

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By Jon DePaolis, Richard Free Press: TINLEY PARK, Ill. — What does ethics mean in politics? That is one of the questions Tinley Park residents are asking themselves after a yearlong feud culminated in a public reprimand of a trustee at a January Village Board meeting. Along the way, there was vandalism, allegations of a coverup, possible leaking of confidential information, favoritism, and political attacks — most of which unfolded inside the boardroom and on social media. On Jan. 18, the Village of Tinley Park Board of Trustees admonished Trustee Diane Galante after findings of an independent ethics complaint investigation found that she had violated the Village's ethics ordinance by giving confidential information acquired through her position as a trustee to someone who was engaged in a lawsuit against Tinley Park. The recommended action, as guided by the Village's ethics ordinance, was for Galante to undergo additional ethics training in addition to the formal reprimand. But after the public rebuke was read aloud, Galante said she felt the ethics investigation was "anything but independent." "It was predetermined and unsupported," Galante said, claiming that the third-party investigator had admitted to her that he spoke with the Village's attorneys during the investigation.Her fellow board members, however, disagreed with many of Galante's claims. "I don't think it is the taxpayers' responsibility to foot the bill for someone's defense in an ethics complaint," Trustee Colleen Sullivan said. Trustee William Brady said he took issue with Galante providing information to Stephen Eberhardt — the resident, a lawyer, suing the Village and has been involved in litigation against Tinley Park during four mayoral administrations. "The man who has cost us thousands upon thousands of dollars of taxpayers' money," Brady added. "I don't understand anybody in any way, shape or form that would want to help him."Meanwhile, Mayor Michael Glotz said that 56 elected officials in Tinley Park have been the subject of an ethics complaint. Of those 56, Galante was the only one who asked for the Village to pay for an attorney. "We get complaints, and [if] we don't like them, we stand up to them and own them," he said. "We don't control the process. We have to follow the process." The process that led to a feud between the mayor and Galante, however, started almost as soon as their alliance began. Prior to being elected to the Village Board, Galante had never been involved in politics. She focused on her career in financial auditing and internal controls. "I'm responsible for setting up the controls, management and making sure people follow it," she said during an interview with Richard Free Press on Thursday, Jan. 27. "That's just part of who I am." But after a slew of issues plagued Tinley Park in the mid to late 2010s, Galante wanted to get involved. As a trustee candidate in 2019, she found herself on a ticket supported by then-Trustee Glotz. "[I supported her as a candidate for trustee] because I thought that she was honest, and I thought she cared about the town," Glotz said during an interview on Jan. 20. "Unfortunately, she's proved that she chose herself over the town in trying to help Eberhardt and get out of a lawsuit."Glotz said their relationship began to sour because Galante did not have a grasp of how government works — which he said began to manifest in how she interacted with Village staff and other board members. But Galante believes that the issues between them started much sooner. "When I was elected, I will say there were issues that I had with Trustee Glotz at the time," she said. "Things didn't add up all the time, and I'm very much an individual. I let the group know from Day 1 that I'd be an individual, and I would not be a group voter. I'm going to do what I believe and what I believe people would want from me or what I would want from an elected official. That's not group thought. I believe that we should all be very open with own ideas to come up with the best idea. "But what I found was that there was an expectation from Mr. Glotz that sometimes I would have to bend. I wasn't willing to bend. He expected me to do things that I didn't fully understand and could not do." Galante said she also began questioning why developments were not moving forward in key areas of the Village despite plans being brought before the Village Board. "I'm asking questions [about that], and it became very hostile," Galante said. "I'm going to question anything that comes in front of me. It doesn't matter to me who the person is. I'm going to question the action." Galante also believes the political attacks started so she would resign. But those attacks took on a new level when they began to include her son. On or around May 24, 2020, Joe Galante, the son of Trustee Galante, damaged a window at Village Coins, located at 17133 88th Ave. in Tinley Park. Later, he reportedly turned himself into police custody. But in January 2021 — according to the findings from an independent counsel's review of an ethics complaint filed by Galante against Glotz — the owner of Village Coins went to Village Hall to complain that officials were "covering up" the incident. After that, at some point in early February 2021, Village Coins was put on a Village Board agenda under the Business Spotlight section. Following that, on Feb. 14, 2021, per the findings of the ethics complaint, Galante alleged she called and emailed then-Assistant Village Manager Pat Carr inquiring about the issue. Immediately after, Carr emailed then-Village Manager David Niemeyer about the phone call. He titled the email, "Trustee Galante Phone Call – Confidential." In the email, Carr wrote that Galante accused him of colluding with Glotz and then-Village Clerk Kristin Thirion. He also said Galante "continued to berate and accuse me of attacking her and her family." "I would like to add that this is the second time Trustee Galante has threatened me in some form or fashion as it relates to a board meeting," Carr wrote in the email. Then, on March 21, 2021, Tinley Park resident Michael Stuckly received documents as part of a Freedom of Information Act request providing him the details of the May 2020 Village Coins incident involving Joe Galante. Galante claims Stuckly then began to post on social media to harass her. Joe Galante addressed the Village Board about this during public comment of a board meeting on May 18, 2021. He said that when he was 18 years old, he ingested alcohol and "instantly blacked out" before going and breaking a window. "It was the worst day of my life," he said. "The reason I bring this story up is because every time my mom questions any financial issues in this meeting, I am somehow brought into this. [Mayor Glotz] threatens to expose my issues. First, he had his friend post on Facebook that I'm a burglar. Then, [that friend] went to the police station and got my police report. Then, he had his friend post my mugshot on Facebook." However, a memorandum sent to Village Manager David Niemeyer from Chief of Police Matthew Walsh on April 30, 2021, indicates that he did not believe the information was "leaked," because a video of the incident had been posted to social media by an employee of Village Coins.In May 2021, another interoffice memo sent by Niemeyer to Walsh detailed an incident that occurred in April 2021 in which Galante asked Niemeyer at a Citizens Police Academy Alumni Association event about the information about her son being leaked. Two days later, Niemeyer wrote that he was contacted by then-Mayor Jacobs Vandenberg to investigate whether there were any improprieties that may have occurred. "The investigation was completed, and no improprieties were discovered," Niemeyer wrote.He also wrote that it was his opinion that "both Trustee Galante and former Mayor Vandeberg used their elected office to try and gain access to privileged information that a regular citizen would not be able to obtain." On June 18, 2021, according to the independent counsel's findings, the contents of Carr's email to Niemeyer about his and Galante's February 2021 phone call was posted on the Tinley Taxpayers Unite Facebook page. A day later, after becoming aware of the post, Galante asked Village staff and the Village's legal counsel how the information was disseminated as she believed it to be confidential. However, on June 21, 2021, Niemeyer responded to Galante by telling her the email was released as part of a FOIA request. Two days later, Village attorneys told Galante there was nothing they could do to restrict the release of the email. On June 24, 2021, Stuckly posted on Facebook that there was "no leaks" regarding the Village Coins incident. On June 28, 2021, Galante filed an ethics complaint against Glotz. In it, she accused the mayor of providing information to Stuckly and others to "post on social media to harass, intimidate, defame, demean, 'slam' and 'trash' persons not politically aligned with [him] and whom he sees as a threat to his political agenda." "I do not believe I am being provided proper counsel by [Peterson, Johnson and Murray] as the lawyers seem to be more inclined to assist Mr. Glotz and his political party members on the Board to the exclusion of me," Galante wrote in the complaint. As part of the documentation she provided with her complaint, Galante attached what purported to be text messages sent by Glotz to an unknown second party that asked, "Can I give this to Stuckly to slam her?" However, the exhibits failed to clarify the phone number, if the person sending the message was Glotz, and who the "her" referred to was. On July 12, 2021, Sean P. Connolly, an attorney with an office in Westmont, was appointed as the independent counsel assigned to investigate Galante's complaint against Glotz. More than a month later, on Aug. 31, 2021, Connolly issued his decision — dismissing all Galante's claims against Glotz. "Simply put, the facts do not support her belief," Connolly wrote of Galante's claim that Glotz had supplied Stuckly with the information regarding the email Carr sent to Niemeyer in February 2021. "Instead, the facts show Trustee Galante knew, or should have known, Mayor Glotz did not give Mr. Stuckly a copy of this email." Connolly also determined that there was no evidence that showed the February 2021 email was confidential, despite being labeled as such. "The Illinois Freedom of Information Act is silent on whether arbitrarily marking a document 'confidential' renders it exempt," Connolly wrote. Ultimately, Connolly wrote that Galante "failed to prove, by clear and convincing evidence," that Glotz disclosed confidential information or released said information for the purpose of harassing, slamming or trashing her or her family. Richard Free Press asked Glotz if he provided information to Stuckly. "No, he does not [get information from me]," Glotz stated on Jan. 20. But Galante believes that the effort to smear her son began as early as November 2020. Read more at Richard Free Press Richard Free Press is a one-stop destination for the news that most affects you, the southwest suburban resident. Be an informed citizen of the town you live in and love.