The Post Dispatch

State Supreme Court race takes new odd turn
By Trisha Howard
Of the Post-Dispatch
08/13/2004

Campaign finance chief sues, says consultants tried to intimidate him

Two political consultants paid a visit last month to the ex-wife of the campaign finance chairman for an Illinois Supreme Court candidate.
Now the consultants are facing a suit in Madison County that accuses them of infringing on the finance chairman's constitutional rights by trying to intimidate him and scare his two children.
Dwight Kay, the finance chairman for Washington County Circuit Judge Lloyd Karmeier's campaign, filed the suit Wednesday against Tom Denton and Doug Wojcieszak of Tactical Consulting and "other unknown co-conspirators."
The suit says that Denton and Wojcieszak visited Kay's ex-wife on July 13, told her that they were investigating a disability claim that Kay had filed and asked about Kay's education. They also showed her a copy of the couple's divorce file and "went to lengths to convey to her that they possessed detailed personal information about her and her children and Dwight Kay," the suit alleges.
Apparently, the couple's 12-year-old daughter was at her mother's house and witnessed the scene.
Kay seeks compensation and a court order barring Wojcieszak and Denton from "engaging in any further conduct."
Kay's lawyer, Stephen McGlynn, serves as co-chairman of the Illinois Republican Party. On Thursday, McGlynn said that he had never seen such behavior in a local political campaign.
Karmeier, a Republican from Nashville, Ill., faces Appellate Justice Gordon Maag, a Democrat from Glen Carbon, in the November election.
"I don't know who is paying their bill, or what's prompting these people to engage in this behavior," McGlynn said. "I intend to find out."
Wojcieszak, who also represents a pro-plaintiff group called Victims and Families United, responded to the suit Thursday by calling it "frivolous" and defending his right to ask questions about Kay.
"If Mr. Kay is concerned about people asking questions about his background, he should get out of politics and sit at home and watch television like the rest of America," Wojcieszak said.
He later added: "The real story here is that Kay and all of these Lloyd Karmeier fans are all the ones beating up the court system here for frivolous lawsuits, and when they get upset, what's the first thing they do? File a lawsuit."
The suit is the latest blow in a campaign that has rapidly descended into mud-slinging and name-calling - not between the candidates themselves but between their supporters.
At one point, Wojcieszak held a news conference to discuss the old bankruptcy filings of Ed Murnane, the president of the Illinois Civil Justice League and a staunch supporter of Karmeier.
Several months later, an anonymous source calling himself "Troubled Republican" dug through the trash of Sen. Dave Luechtefeld, R-Okawville. "Troubled Republican" then shipped boxes of papers to a number of reporters, saying that the documents proved Luechtefeld was using state resources, such as official letterhead, to bolster Karmeier's campaign.
The Illinois Civil Justice League later countered with a radio spot accusing Maag's supporters of Dumpster-diving.