ANDY MARTIN: Illinois election official quits in growing scandal

Philip Krasny, an appointee of the Illinois State Board of Elections, quit Tuesday after Andy Martin lodged corruption charges against Krasny and announced he would be adding Krasny’s name to a pending Sangamon County civil rights lawsuit. Martin was in the process of preparing a letter to Krasny when Andy received an email from Krasny announcing that Krasny had quit. Martin finished his letter and sent it to Krasny and the other conspirators.

Martin is seeking to reform the State Board of Elections so that the Board will no longer tolerate or allow corrupt lawyers to file “objections” on behalf of straw parties who in reality are acting as stand-ins for secret individuals who actually finance the lawyers’ actions. “There is no way fraudulent practices and procedures can comply with the U. S. Constriction,” Martin charges. “Dirty politics chases clean candidates out of the process.” A Sangamon County circuit judge has scheduled an emergency hearing on Martin’s lawsuit for Friday, July 23rd.

Adding another layer of mystery to the proceedings, using Andy’s clandestine background he observed that Finko, who refuses to disclose an address, had typed Finko’s own secret zip code, 60622, as Andy’s own. Someone corrected Finko’s label. Whodunit? Andy has the envelope.

ANDY MARTIN
“The name you can trust”
Illinois Reform Party for U. S. Senator/2010
Suite 4406, 30 E. Huron Street
Chicago, IL 60611-4723
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July 20, 2010

Philip Krasny, Esq.
State Board of Elections
100 W. Randolph Street, Suite 14-100
Chicago, Illinois
via fax:
(312) 814-6485
(217) 782-5959
(312) 345-9860
via email:
philipkrasny@yahoo.com

Re: State Board of Elections proceedings

Dear Mr. Krasny:

We Episcopalians have an old saying that you should “be careful what pray for; your prayers might get answered.” For the past week opposing counsel Andrew Finko has been noting that my promise to respond to him on July 13th has not been fulfilled.

Mr. Finko’s prayers have now been answered. I am responding to him, and to you. My response does not paint a pretty picture of Finko’s behavior, or yours. In forty-one years as a lawyer, I have never seen a bunch of people make a bigger mess of a case.[1]

Due to his solipsism, Mr. Finko appears to believe that my life revolves around his machinations. That is obviously not the case. Although this letter is directed to you for obvious reasons, this letter also constitutes my response to Finko.

I suggest you pay serious attention to the constitutional violations that have been directed against me as a part of a criminal conspiracy to deny me the right to run for United States Senator.

1. Addressing you

While the facts and circumstances place us in an adversarial position, I wish to show you the utmost respect as a representative of the State Board. In my salutation I referred to you as “Mr.” If I should be addressing you by some other salutation please advise me and I will respect your request.

Unlike Mr. Finko, who engages in the juvenile behavior of using misleading and invented names for me, I do not play those games.

2. Recusal

As documented below, you engaged in what appears to have been a vile ex parte hearing on July 6th. As such, you are a witness, in both state and federal court, to what took place then. I assume there was no record of the proceedings. If there was a record, kindly furnish me with a copy immediately.

Because you engaged in an ex parte proceeding compromising your impartiality, because you are a witness to the facts and events of the ex parte proceeding, and because you will become a defendant on Wednesday in my pending civil rights lawsuit, I urge you to voluntarily recuse yourself from the proceedings.

I would also request a disclosure from you of your prior relationship with the State Board including any prior employment relationship with the board.


3. Illinois/Federal constitutional law on Due Process

As my memorandum of law which will be filed tomorrow will reflect, the Illinois Supreme Court interprets federal constitutional law as requiring a standard of “reasonableness.”

The undisputed and documented record reflects the totally unreasonable behavior directed against me by the Board and other participants.

In addition, while the state conducts elections, as a candidate for federal office I am entitled to the full protection of the U.S. Constitution. I am not a candidate for state or local office, where federal constitutional rights may not be as extensive.

4. The facts concerning the “objections” to my candidacy

Illinois law presumes that in the absence of a valid and properly filed objection, a candidate’s filings are legally presumed to be sufficient. I am entitled to avail myself of the benefits of that legal presumption because no valid objections have been filed to my candidacy.

a. Three “objections” against me were apparently tendered to the Board close to the close of business on June 28th.

b. The Board did not mail out its “notice” to me until the afternoon of Wednesday, June 30th.

c. There was no reasonable way to expect or believe that a letter mailed in Springfield on Wednesday would be delivered before Tuesday, July 6th with a federal holiday weekend intervening.

d. Andrew Finko mailed me a certified letter on July 14th, also a Wednesday. That did not arrive until the following Monday. (More on Finko’s letter later).

e. Andrew Finko never served me with his objection. Finko claims to have filed a purported “motion for summary judgment” on July 6th, and he failed to serve that as well. I received a “reply” to Finko’s ex parte motion yesterday. Obviously, in the absence of service of the original documents, Finko’s reply to himself says more about his state of mind than it does about the state of his objections or legal competence

f. I was never served with a copy of the objections filed by John Fogarty and Brien Sheahan.

g. It is axiomatic that service of documents is one of the bedrock principles of our legal system, both administrative and judicial. The fact that attorneys and pro se parties were submitting ex parte documents to the Board, and you made no effort to direct them to serve me, is outrageous.

h. On July 13th, you directed Fogarty to serve me with a “notice.” He did so on July 20th (today). Why did it take Fogarty a week to comply with your directions? Ask him. Fogarty also served a copy of his “objection” with his “notice.” Thus, out of three objections submitted to the Board on June 28th, I received only one, and that was today, on July 20th, over three weeks later.

i. On July 13th, in yet another ex parte action, you directed Finko to serve me with “notice.” Although Finko sent me a certified letter, see attached Exhibit A, he did not include either his original objection or his purported motion with his “notice.”[2] What is more significant is that Finko's letter was mailed in Chicago on July 14th, and did not reach my building until July 19th.

I would ask that you direct Mr. Finko to serve me with the front and back of his certified mail receipt (green card). In any event, if a letter mailed in Chicago took from Wednesday to Monday to be delivered, my claim that it was unreasonable for the Board to mail a letter in Springfield on a Wednesday and during a federal holiday and to expect immediate delivery is confirmed. Mr. Finko’s letter inadvertently solidified my lack-of-notice claim.

j. Mr. Finko refuses to provide a street address where he may be served both with Board matters and my civil rights lawsuit. In forty-one years, I have never seen a case where a practicing attorney refused to provide an actual street address for service. There is something seriously wrong with Mr. Finko, as the totality of his aberrant behavior confirms. I note that Finko mailed his letter in the 60622 zone where he has had a listed address. I can assure you Mr. Finko is within an eyelash of a federal civil RICO mail fraud claim though his legerdemain.

k. Neither you nor the Board staff have made any efforts to notify me directly. Instead, and despite the fact I furnished a web site to the Board with extensive contact information, you told Mr. Finko to be the go-between despite the fact he was submitting ex parte documents to the Board. I believe that was a constitutional violation of my right to notice from the forum.

l. Sharon Meroni has never served me with her objection.

5. The Sangamon County lawsuit

On June 30th I filed a Sangamon County federal civil rights lawsuit against the Objectors, their attorneys and the Board. Tomorrow I will be adding you and Brien Sheahan as defendants. I may add other defendants. Finko and Fogarty and Fogarty’s clients have tried to frustrate service of process. That is unprofessional activity when committed by an officer of the Illinois Supreme Court.

I am sure the Sangamon County judge will be concerned by such unprofessional behavior by offices of the court. Mr. Fogarty has already established a notorious record of unprofessional behavior in Sangamon County. I will serve you with a copy of my amended complaint naming you as a party.

6. Proceedings before the Board

The ex parte proceedings before the Board have obviously been a sham and mockery of Due Process. Therefore, on Friday I will be filing in Springfield a Notice of Removal pursuant to 28 U.S.C.A. § 1441 of the Board proceedings to the U. S. District Court. After extensive review of the applicable law I am convinced I have a right, as a federal candidate, to remove the Board's proceedings to federal court. There will not be any Board proceedings unless and until the case is remanded, and I expect the federal court to retain the case, see 28 U.S.C.A. § 1446 (d).

7. Possible future board proceedings

I have launched a public interest “war” against the fraudulent proceedings conducted by the Board involving bogus “objections” which are solicited by “election lawyers” who act and are paid by undisclosed principals, and who use straw objectors such as Heffernan as proxies for the hidden interests which are orchestrating the Board proceedings.

In my opinion, no tribunal can receive public respect when lawyers are engaging in fraud on the tribunal by failing to disclose (i) who is paying the attorneys filing claims and (ii) who is soliciting the “objectors.” The Board has abdicated its independent constitutional duty to ensure that the Board's processes are not being used and abused surreptitiously. In almost all cases filed with the Board, the objectors are nothing more than stand-ins for the lawyers and their secret clients.

In the latest “objection” period, three sets of individuals (Meroni, Fogarty and Finko) filed indiscriminate objections against every candidate who filed to run against the established parties. The Federal Constitution is violated when ballot access procedures are misused to indiscriminately attack every candidate who files for office.

I believe the Board’s toleration of these tactics through failure to direct full disclosure, and the Board’s failure to allow either extensive pre-hearing discovery, or to adopt disclosure rules for attorneys practicing before the board to file affidavits concerning the source of their legal fees and any solicitation activity involving “clients,” makes the Board into a sham agency which is used by unscrupulous attorneys to harass candidates and to perpetrate a fraud on every Illinoisan.

In any future Board proceedings I will expect to be afforded extensive pre-hearing discovery so that I may depose all of the “Objectors” and their attorneys about their relationships concerning fees, solicitation, etc.

I have been fighting official corruption in Illinois for almost half a century. I am getting stronger, not weaker, and I have more energy, not less, for the battle to save Illinois from crooked lawyers and corrupt politicians. The State of Illinois is dying. I will do my best to save it.

8. Independent expert witness

I am in the process of seeking to retain an independent expert witness who may consult and offer expert opinions on the Due Process violations that have been directed against me by the Board and the sham objectors. I will serve you with a copy of any affidavit that becomes available.

9. A safe harbor offer

In order to bring the bogus objections against me to a rapid close, I am offering a safe harbor to any attorney or other defendant in the Sangamon County lawsuit. Anyone who voluntarily withdraws an objection before the Board before noon on Thursday, July 22nd will be dismissed as a defendant on July 23rd and will be able to go forward without any further claim of liability.

Any defendants who remain in the lawsuit after July 22nd will be subjected to the full panoply of criminal and civil law liability. I will promptly be placing liens on their real estate to ensure payment of judgments rendered against them.

Addendum:

After this letter was drafted and while it was being prepared for emailing, I received an e-mail from you voluntarily recusing yourself. Your recusal does not remove you as party defendant in the amended complaint. Because you conducted a secret hearing with the other defendants on July 6th, you remain a critical link in the chain of constitutional violations being orchestrated by Finko, Fogarty and Meroni.

What is interesting about your resignation today is that when you wanted to notify me of your resignation you found a way to do so. But, prior to today, you had never made any attempt to afford me any notice of your actions. Likewise, after acting in secret prior to today, when the Board in Springfield wanted to notify me today, they found a way to do so. These two communications today prove my point.

You should have your attorney contact me if you wish to avail yourself of the safe harbor offer in this letter.

Respectfully submitted,

ANDY MARTIN

AM:sp

W/encl. Exhibit A
[1] I am a Juris Doctor graduate of the University of Illinois. I am not a member of the Illinois bar. Therefore, I am a lawyer, but not an attorney.
[2] Adding yet another layer of mystery to Finko’s shenanigans, he originally typed my zip code as “60622” on his envelope (apparently Finko’s own secret zip code that he inserted unconsciously). Someone then crossed 60622 out and inserted the inked-in number. Is this a whodunit, or what? That is why depositions of the objectors and their lawyers is so essential to getting at the full truth behind the Finko-Fogarty scams.

ANDY MARTIN: Crooked lawyer threatens to sue Andy for defamation

Andrew Finko, the evasive “election lawyer” who works out of a post office box and has no office to call his own, has threatened Andy Martin with a defamation lawsuit. Martin says that unlike Finko, Martin has a public office address; Andy won’t hide from Finko’s court papers.

And, in the continuing comedy of the sleazy Illinois Republican Party, John Fogarty, the “lawyer” with no name on his office, now has “clients” who are trying to evade Martin’s private detectives, after suing Andy in the first place! There was a fracas at the Heffernan house Monday when fatass Donna Heffernan tried to evade service of legal papers, and Donna’s son ended up having to take the legal documents for his mom and dad. The Heffernans had filed an election lawsuit against Andy, “represented” by Fogarty.

Andy Martin has been fighting corruption in Illinois politics for over forty years; he keeps fighting, and the crooks keep coming.

Internet powerhouse Andy Martin blows the whistle on Illinois’ corrupt “election lawyers”

John Fogarty’s stooges try to lock the door on Andy's private detective; service of process becomes a family affair for Fogarty’s Heffernans
ContrarianCommentary.com
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Andy Martin
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“Factually Correct, Not Politically Correct”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Andy Martin exposes Andrew Finko as the “lawyer in a post office box”

Martin says John Fogarty’s legal circus continues as his “clients” the Heffernans get the willies after launching a suit against Andy; the Heffernans are now trying to evade Andy’s court papers

Andy asks “What are these bogus ‘clients’ going to do when we place liens on their homes and property later in the week?”

Andrew Finko threatens Andy Martin with a defamation lawsuit; Martin says, “Sue me”

(CHICAGO)(July 20, 2010) Andrew Finko used to work at one of the nation’s largest law firms, Schiff Hardin [http://www.schiffhardin.com/]. Finko doesn’t work there any more. Today he works out of a post office box.

Efforts by my private detectives to find an office for Finko have been fruitless. He appears to use his parents’ home as his mailing and residence address. He has no listed home of his own. What happened to Finko? Was he a crook? Incompetent? Nervous breakdown? Or couldn’t Finko hack the ‘big firm’ practice? We’ll investigate and report the facts to you.

The litigation circus of Finko and his similarly corrupt and incompetent fellow traveler John Fogarty continues. Fogarty is supervised by DuPage County sex fiend attorney Brien Sheahan, who was preaching that “old time religion” to DuPage voters while he was fornicating with another candidate on the ballot. Sheahan is an embarrassment to the Republican Party, which is why sleazy chairman Pat Brady keeps Fogarty and Sheahan on the team. Brady is as corrupt as they are.

Fogarty has an “office” in a building where his name is not even on the door, and no one answers the door. Criminals call that a “mail drop.” Fogarty can’t be much of a lawyer if he can’t afford to have his name listed in the lobby’s building directory or his own office door. Maybe that’s why Fogarty has gotten his latest bogus "clients" in trouble.

My detectives were out serving Fogarty’s “clients” Monday night. Donna Heffernan tried to block her door to avoid service of process. That’s unlawful. Fogarty’s clients, the Heffernans, are so confident of their claims against me that they are afraid to be served with my legal papers. Donna’s son walked in just as the fracas with his mama was unfolding, and baby Heffernan got himself served as his mother’s agent.

What a disgrace the Heffernans are to the Republican Party. They have filed dozens of attacks against candidates through their sleazy “lawyer” Fogarty. Republicans must not be too confident about winning the election in November if they are working so hard to throw their opponents off the ballot. Well fatass Donna Heffernan and her hubby Andy have now been served. Next comes a lien on their house.

One by one we are hunting and tracking down Fogarty’s and Finko’s clients and serving them with legal process.

Which leads us to Andrew Finko, who is due in Sangamon County Circuit Court this Friday. We’ll have someone there ready to serve him with process when he shows his face. Finko’s client also faces a process server when he shows up in court. Finko is not a Republican. Rather he has attacked dozens of candidates as a stooge for Obamacrats.

I don’t know why Finko is no longer at Schiff Hardin, his former law firm, but I know why I would have fired Finko if he worked for me. He is incompetent and is an embarrassment to any client. He served me with a “reply to his motion” Monday that would be a disgrace to any legitimate law firm. And he “replied” to his own motion without ever serving me with the original. Nice trick, that. Finko appears to think if you work out of a post office box the laws of processional propriety don’t apply to you. Well they do. Finko the Fink didn’t realize he was actually helping my lawsuit when he filed his malicious material with a stooge at the State Board of Elections.

Maybe you wonder why Illinois government is in the toilet, and slowly being flushed down the sewers into the Gulf of Mexico. Illinois is a failed state, and becoming a third world state, because of the corrupt politics that controls the state government and tries to prevent people from running for office.

Florida doesn’t have any “election lawyers.” Florida doesn’t have any petition challenges or fraudulent “objectors. Why? Candidates in Florida simply pay a filing fee and file a statement of candidacy and that’s that. No “hearings,” no fraudulent fatasses like the Heffernans, no straw men, no nuttin'. You pay your fee and run for office. Compare and contrast how easy it is to run for office in Florida with how difficult it is to become a candidate in Illinois.

The State Board of Elections is controlled by the two major parties (there is no minor party or genuine independent representative on the Board) and the state’s greasy "election lawyers" work overtime to discourage good folk from being candidates:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/
ct-oped-0720-byrne-20100720,0,4166606.column

In closing, let me ask you, dear reader, a simple question. Would you hire John Fogarty to represent you? He has an “office” without his name on the door, without a secretary, and without his name on the lobby’s building directory. Nobody would hire such a jackleg lawyer, except the Illinois Republican Party.

As for Andrew Finko? He used to be near the mountaintop. At a major Chicago law firm. Today he works out of a post office box. I am sure people are not lining up at Finko’s post office box to hire him either. Maybe that’s why Finko may rely on mom and dad to handle his mail. Maybe his mom even takes his messages. Who knows?

In a way, Finko’s sad decline from big law firm to post office box is mirrored by Illinois’ decline, from a great state to a bankrupt entity in which even the police are not safe in the streets any more. Over the weekend a cop on the brink of retirement was gunned down by gangbangers. It reminds me of Cabrini Green in the 1970’s. I was there. I remember officers Severin and Rizzato who lost their lives under Daley’s father.

I am running to change Illinois, to clean up the corruption. The Finkos and Fogartys and Shehans and Bradys of Illinois politics are trying hard to stop me. They are the best endorsement of my independence and integrity. My campaign is already a winner. The more disinfectant we spray on Finko and Fogarty, on the Heffernans and Shermans, and on loopy Sharon Meroni, the more people know why Illinois is going down the drain.

I am not really fighting for myself. I am fighting for every citizen who is fed up with the political sleaze in Illinois, and the thieves who maintain themselves in power by denying democracy to Illinois voters. Please join me and support the cause of disinfecting the Fogartys and Finkos and the political puppet masters hiding behind the failed lawyers who are an embarrassment to honest attorneys.

P.S. Andrew Finko has now threatened to sue me for defamation. My answer to Finko: “sue me.” I have an office address. And, unlike Finko, I won’t hide when Finko sends someone to serve me with legal papers. I will welcome my day in court.

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ABOUT ANDY: Andy Martin is the legendary New York and Chicago-based muckraker, author, Internet columnist, radio talk show host, broadcaster and media critic. He has over forty years of background in radio and television and is the dean of Illinois media and communications. He promotes his best-selling book, “Obama: The Man Behind The Mask” and his Internet movie "Obama: The Hawai'i years." Martin has been a leading corruption fighter in Illinois for over forty years. He is currently sponsoring www.AmericaisReadyforReform.com
Andy is the Executive Editor and publisher of the “Internet Powerhouse,” http://www.contrariancommentary.com/. He comments on regional, national and world events with more than four decades of investigative and overseas experience. He holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Illinois College of Law and is a former adjunct professor of law at the City University of New York (LaGuardia CC, Bronx CC).

UPDATES: www.twitter.com/AndyMartinUSAwww.facebook.com/AndyMartin Andy's columns are also posted at ContrarianCommentary.blogspot.com; contrariancommentary.wordpress.com.
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