ILSAAP Began "Extensive" Contracted Media Consulting for McHenry County State's Attorney Louis Bianchi on Oct. 1, 2007. Two Days Later, Bianchi's Chief Investigator and Campaign Manager Received Phone Call from "An Unnamed Informant" About Former Employee's Transferred Computer Files.
The Illinois Office of the State's Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor (ILSAAP) began extensive, but quiet, contracted media consulting for McHenry County State's Attorney Louis Bianchi starting Oct. 1, 2007, according to an activity report submitted by Curry Public Strategies of Wheaton who would later describe themselves as "game changers".
Two days after the consulting kicked off, "an unnamed informant" phoned the state's attorney chief investigator Ron Salgado that a female employee "close to Bianchi" had transferred office computer files onto a jump or zip drive, accounts the article Daily Herald's Chuck Keeshan wrote after examining court records, "Bianchi's Office Knew of Files". Salgado was also Bianchi's campaign manager.
The first week of August 2007, Woodstock attorney Dan Regna announced his candidacy to unseat Bianchi in the upcoming primary. He criticized the McHenry County State
Three weeks later, a special meeting of the ILSAAP Board of Governors held in Springfield included a detailed discussion of contracting Curry Public Strategies, led by Board Vice Chairman Joe Birkett. Citizens to Elect Joe Birkett had paid the consultants over $55,000 for campaign communications prior to this discussion. The Board unanimously voted for the contract three weeks later following a presentation of the firm's proposal.
Board minutes reported a remark from Curry Public Strategies' proposal made several weeks before the assistance began in McHenry County: "Occasionally, a state's attorney knows something bad is coming out, or something is going to be portrayed as bad will come out...in that event the tactic to be used may be to aggressively pre-empt the prospective bad publicity by putting a positive spin on the case."
