County States Attorney vs State Scandal

Last week a political scandal at the State level of the Democratic party blew up with an e-mail made public that appeared to confirm some of the worst suspicions of shadiness in Illinois politics. One of the items in the email suggested that a rape in Champaign County was somehow covered up. In the latest update, our own Champaign County States Attorney, Julia Rietz, says she's working with a multi-agency investigation:

The Champaign County State’s Attorney revealed Friday that her office is now working with other state and federal agencies on an investigation into a 2012 email written by a former powerful Springfield lobbyist that referred to an unspecified “rape in Champaign,” WBEZ has learned.

Democratic Champaign State’s Attorney Julia Rietz told WBEZ in an interview Friday afternoon that her office is involved in a “comprehensive investigation” with the Illinois Attorney General, the Illinois State Police and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of Illinois into the content of the email.

Full article from WBEZ here. She had received a lot of local complaints, especially from Republicans, for appearing unwilling to investigate the allegations. Coverage by WBEZ on that here and the News-Gazette here.

Champaign County State’s Attorney Julia Rietz said she won’t be launching her own investigation into an email reference about an alleged sex assault in Champaign made by a politically connected lobbyist years ago but will absolutely respond if a victim makes a complaint.

“There’s no reference to who, what, where or when,” the veteran Democratic prosecutor said. “It’s just (an email saying) ‘Be nice to this guy because he helped cover up a rape in Champaign.’ Certainly, if a victim comes forward to local law enforcement to report a crime, we will absolutely be willing and interested in addressing it.

That full article here. A Statewide Illinois political outlet, Capitol Fax had a scathing depiction of what he called an "odd duck" State's Attorney, dredging up past problematic racial comments and highlighting the county budget problems and a lack of a regular grand jury.