MADISON COUNTY, Ill. — Former Madison County Administrator Doug Hulme, who was fired in April after an investigation into alleged improper access to emails, filed a lawsuit against Madison County Treasurer Chris Slusser, claiming Slusser lied about him and cost him his job.
In the lawsuit, Hulme accused Slusser of lying in a statement Slusser made to the Madison County Public Corruption Task Force in April. Hulme claimed the statement led to an investigation and his eventual firing. Slusser is sticking by his statement and calling the lawsuit frivolous.
In the lawsuit, Hulme says Slusser lied when he told investigators about a job offer made in exchange for help getting former Judge Don Webber a job as a U.S. attorney. Hulme says that statement was not true and led to the investigation that cost him his job in April.
Slusser called the lawsuit "another frivolous lawsuit filed by a disgraced former county official apparently bent on punishing and intimidating honest people who have come forward to report suspected wrongdoing in county government.”
According to the Associated Press, court documents unsealed by the investigation indicated county officials told a grand jury about their suspicions that Hulme and information technology director Rob Dorman had untitled access to county workers’ emails. That information had been revealed by Madison County State’s Attorney Tom Gibbons to members of a special computer crimes task force.
The court documents showed Slusser said Hulme bragged about having evidence of a judge using county resources for political fundraising the AP reported. No judge has been publicly accused of such conduct.
In the wake of the investigation, the Madison County Board voted 26-1 to fire Hulme and Dorman.
In the lawsuit, Hulme said the investigation resulted in no arrests or indictments but did not say anything about the findings of the investigation.
The lawsuit is seeking "actual and punitive damages in excess of $50,000."
