Zinke ran license plate? McHenry County Blog - 99 comments!

Gus Philpott
Woodstock Advocate
March 9, 2014

Isn't it a felony to mis-use the LEADS database? Of course, it is.

If a law-enforcement officer uses the LEADS database for an unofficial reason, it's a Class 3 Felony.

How might a supervisor or command officer avoid such a sticky little problem? What if he told a subordinate to run the plate for him? In what position does that put the subordinate? Is the subordinate shielded from a felony charge, because he was just doing what he was ordered to do?

"Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practise to deceive!" [Sir Walter Scott, Marmion, Canto vi. Stanza 17. (Scottish author & novelist (1771-1832))]

Or does the subordinate get stuck with the felony? And is the supervisor a conspirator?

Friday's article on McHenry County Blog about the lawsuit against Republic candidate for sheriff Andy Zinke has drawn 99 comments so far. Be sure to read the article and the comments.

Reading the comments from the first will provide an education about several things. (Click on "Older Comments" to read from the beginning.) First, the blind following that Zinke has among a few people. They are desperate to minimize any possible allegations of wrongdoing by Nygren's golden boy.

Secondly, the outrage that some readers have about absence of ethics and low responsibility. Of course, it might not be true. Maybe Zinke didn't run outside in his socks after a 78-year-old process server.

Maybe the sun won't come up in the east tomorrow.

Maybe a Federal judge in Rockford will flinch and toss out a frivolous lawsuit. Somehow I think the Federal judges in Rockford are right on top of their game, and I cannot imagine that an attorney would even consider filing a frivilous lawsuit in Federal court. The only problem with Federal cases - any Federal cases - is that they take forever.

Let's hope that Zinke's attorney, Jim Bishop, has fully recovered from whatever ailed him on Friday and that the deposition of Zinke can be scheduled for tomorrow or Tuesday. Think that will happen? Yeah, sure... about the same odds as the sun coming up in the west. Anyone calling Jimmy the Greek about the odds on the deposition even occurring before Primary Election Day, only a week from Tuesday.

What hasn't been mentioned yet is for whose case was Zinke being subpoenaed? That has gotten lost in the wind.

Zinke supporters would have you believe that this case is politically motivated and timed to embarrass him before Election Day. Like the FirstElectricNewspaper lawsuit to get at Don Leist's report on Zinke's disclosure of a confidential DEA investigation. Or the publication of Zinke's flipping the bird to Cal Skinner in the Crystal Lake July 4 parade. Not so.

If Zinke ran Sondra Matterness' license plate through LEADS for personal reason(s), why isn't the Illinois State Police investigating him and charging him with the Class 3 Felony for mis-use of the LEADS database?

Anyone with information about illegal use of LEADS is invited to call me with details. If you were ever asked to run a license plate or name for a supervisor (who could have run it himself, except then his name would have been connected with the inquiry to LEADS), call me and I'll get the information into the right hands.