Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown wants accusers prosecuted for lying to feds

Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown wants the people “whose lies started” a federal investigation into her office prosecuted for lying to the feds.

She also says they should be “made to pay back the thousands of taxpayers’ dollars wasted on these false allegations.”

The call comes in a letter to the editor Brown submitted to the Chicago Sun-Times.

The feds revealed last week that an employee once told investigators the “going rate” for a job in her office was about $10,000, that a “bagman” collected money for the clerk and that her employees generally had the impression that “financial benefits to the clerk could result in securing promotions.”

In her letter, Brown wrote that she “was appalled” after reading an article about the allegations. She also said “newspapers should not write stories without concrete facts.”

“The individuals whose lies started this investigation should be prosecuted for lying to the U.S. Attorney and/or the FBI and made to pay back the thousands of taxpayers’ dollars wasted on these false allegations,” Brown wrote.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office declined to comment.

After reading about the allegations, Brown wrote, “I realized that the entire investigation, as I suspected, has been perpetuated by individuals who resent my being Clerk of Court and they have methodically worked to unseat me.”

Brown has not been charged with a crime. And she has survived politically in spite of the years-long investigation of her office. Though allegations in new documents are dated, recent court records indicate “an ongoing and active criminal investigation” is still underway that has involved allegations of lying to a grand jury, bribery, wire fraud and extortion.

Other recently filed documents also show that prosecutors “recently obtained additional materials” from Brown’s campaign treasurer and a former campaign official.

The documents are related to the case against Beena Patel, a one-time top administrator with Brown who allegedly lied to a grand jury about office politicking.

Brown alleged in her letter that the same individuals who lied to the feds have been lying to the Chicago Sun-Times for years, once prompting a reporter to write about a fundraising scheme that involved tickets sold in her office to help get people promotions.

“I recognized the scheme as the method that a now former employee said he/she had been managing and offered to me, before I was elected,” Brown wrote. “I rejected his/her offer and terminated his/her employment upon taking office.”

She wrote that the county’s inspector general looked into that allegation, along with allegations over her office’s “blue jeans day.” She said the inspector general found no wrongdoing.

“This is an ongoing pattern that started with the ticket-selling scheme lie, then the blue jeans day lie, and now this jobs-selling lie; newspapers should not write stories without concrete facts,” Brown wrote. “I will continue to refute false allegations and respond to damaging articles.”

She concluded her letter: “#EnoughisEnough, #TimesUp, #ItsAboutTime.”