I watched the video and Andy was right when he said the mayor was using public funds to blast a political opponent. A big no-no. I laughed when he said, "I hope you will delete them." I bet he'd like that!

Is anyone else sick of our Village Board meetings being used for personal attacks and accusations that don't have a shred of evidence? It's your record Mayor. It's facts, not "fraud."

The big part of this story seems to be glossed over by the author. Tphelan is writing Sandra Bury's literature. That certainly explains the tone of the literature.
Also, while the author is quick to say no evidence has been found, she hides the fact that the investigation continues, placing those words as an after thought at the end of the article. The chief should haul Sandra Bury and Tom Phelan in and question them as to who they sent the e-mails to and where they got certain e-mail accounts.

They got the e mail address we originally used to sign up for online bill pay with the Village somehow, so while there might not have been a "breach" in the strictest sense of the word, something smelly happened.

OLG, I never received an e-mail, I think someone who works at the village got the email and sent it to others, went viral, and that's why it happened My opinion only though. The Mayor should not direct public employees to do " work " on his behalf though

Yeah, it went viral from the Village Hall send by the two famous people who work there: P Franek and David Zabricki. If you want to write and send nasty e-mails, then own up to it and send them out under your own name. Otherwise, shut the f*ck up.

Speaking of which, is there anything in Roberts Rules about people in the audience who just blurt out things and shout like they have Tourette Syndrome? Yes, the meetings are becoming a joke from the dais, but also from the floor. Just plain rude and ignorant.

The idea that someone "stole" an email address is so pathetically naive .... Such a mindless witch hunt that it bears no truth or consequence....

Regardless of the content, I think the tactic of using anonymous/pseudonym e-mail addresses to send messages to people who did not request them is a shady tactic.

If you're resorting to using the same tactics used by "Deposed Nigerian princes" and "enhancement" salesmen you may want to question the direction of your campaign.

I got plenty of political emails this past election cycle. No biggie to me. I had them in my car, my home, robocalls, newspapers, emails. Whatever. I got far more from politicians in my inbox than from nigerian princes. It's the world we live in. The only reason Heilmann cares is because now he knows that his betrayal of the public trust went viral.

Your rude and insulting response above and your misdirected anger issues only serve to reinforce the notion that you are badly in need of a filter.

All of which begs the question about being at the meetings and acting out. You're right - everybody plays for the TV, including you and that Debby Fagen chick. You don't speak for everybody, just yourselves. Ask yourself whether you would tolerate someone who acted like you at one of your Appeals meetings.

If someone can't at least try to act like an intelligent human being, then please shut the f*ck up.

Dave's rant on this was a waste of time. Unity Party got all our email addresses years ago. A certain trustee with renowned spreadsheet abilities has database with email addresses, home addresses, and what political signs you've had in front of your house for all elections since 2005. Just junk mail, delete it. End of story.

Andy didn't receive, yeah right? Go Vikings.

We have unsolved thefts and other crimes in this village and this is what our mayor directs of police chief to do? Really? Investigate emails from political rivals? He should be ashamed to ever even talk about crime

Election-related material was sent by 2 fake gmail account names to resident emails that were related to village services like online bill pay. There's every reason to investigate allegations like that because it's a misuse of data collected for village services. I'd expect further investigation. What the Chief is saying is the email system wasn't hacked. So someone on the inside shared the email addresses. The other thing is tactics like that tend to alienate people who receive the emails. So rather than helping Dr Bury it will most likely hurt her campaign. She really should get better advisors. It shows bad judgement to o.k. the misuse of village information resources just to win an election.

School district 123 employees got the e-mail also. And those aren't shared on the bill pay. It's was internal.

Yes it was internal. Bill pay wasn't the only source of the email addresses.

Hmm. Ten million dollar loss to taxpayers, sweet inside deals for friends covered up with confidentiality agreements, tampering with witnesses, attacking political opponents using public resources, clear corruption at the highest level of oak lawn government - and people are bent out of shape about an email? Reallly?

Where is the proof that the senders don't exist? Where is the proof that Bury's campaign had anything to do with it? It's not beyond the realm of possibility - and even far more likely - that people are so infuriated by what they see that they are moved to action.

It's political email to email addresses collected as a part of village (and other) services. Why do you think village residents complained? The chief and others tried to contact the 2 bogus emails with no success. Gmail email addresses are easy to set up although I do think there are ways to track back to the source IP address. The material in the email was evidently all anti-mayor attack material (disclaimer I have not received the email.) Who does that "help"? Dr Bury of course. Let's face it she has no elected office experience and she has no way to reach the voters except to shout out at the board meetings. So someone (Phelan probably) is trying to help her get elected. Then he'd probably try to get elected for another term because he knows he can control Dr Bury. She has no strong political base so she had to align with someone to get elected imo.

Before this thing dies, let's sum up. Sandra Bury, the candidate who is all about TRANSPARENCY, has Tphelan author and compile an e-mail for her and send it out. Whether it came from authentic or fake e-mail addresses is a red herring but for the fact that it's kind of a weasel thing to do. (And, by the way, just who do you THINK is running her campaign?) But, anyway, after the fact, she ducks, dodges and weaves her way around it and comes up with the lame comment that it "was a group effort and that neither she nor Phelan could take complete credit." How's that for transparency?

The problem with all politics, Oak Lawn's included, is this: When you tell a lie once, it's a lie. When you tell a lie a second time, it's a rumor. When you tell that lie a 3rd time, it becomes the truth for some people. Facts are what they are, but why let the facts get in the way of your opinion?

Campaigns around here are starting to be like people who watch FOX News and MSNBC. No matter what the facts are, people hear what they want to hear, they believe what they want to believe, and they would rather be told that they're right than actually be informed.

Wow, I never through a case of spoofing would cause so much discussion. Imagine if we had these types of discussions about things like our 2009 building code required sprinklers for all businesses.

Ms. Gal Who is feeding you this misinformation?? Dave Heilmann?? Are you reading his talking points now. I am working for Sandra Bury I think she would do a good job. My biased opinion only Everyone on this site is partisan to one person or another for the most part. I do not hide my identity, I really can not seriously believe anyone who calls a mayoral candidate an idiot..... unless that candidate has been in office for 8 years.....

Andy I respect your commitment to Oak Lawn. But you hate the mayor and support Phelan. So of course you support Dr Bury who seems to be joined at the hip with Phelan. I wish she had run as a true independent. I would have taken her more seriously.

Andy anything the mayor does you would blast. so what you say on the patch is taken for what it is.

Just as what you say sir

Doesn't matter. Bury isn't winning. Nobody likes her political attacks.

I wonder why the mayor had the police chief look into an office issue when he could have easily pulled his puppet to the side and had the distinguished representative of district 3 request an immediate forensic audit of the email system and for another $25,000 maybe we could find out that maybe the mayor sent out that e-mail. (but like all other audits, we'll never know what we paid for)

Excuse me, but this is a little more serious than everyone is thinking about. There is a huge potential that the Village of Oak Lawn’s data was compromised, which includes information that could lead to identity theft. In the State of Illinois, it is unlawful not to make a notification to everyone that their personal information may have been compromised even if there is only a possibility that it occurred. I would like to know what process was used to verify that the Village’s systems were not compromised. Did they hire an IT security specialist to investigate, or does the Chief know enough about IT to make such a comment?

Tom Phelan,
I’m curious on how it feels to be wrongly accused of breaching security for the Village of Oak Lawn? I imagine you feel like you have worked so hard and been loyal and dedicated only to be accused of something you didn’t do. Do you feel like people are trying to ruin your life after all you have done to try to help them? I certainly hope that you don’t suffer with depression for years because of this. I hope you don’t lose your faith in people and can’t trust anyone. Let me give you some advice Tom, be strong and never give up. Keep fighting for vindication, no matter if it takes years. On the other hand, maybe it has been you all along that breached security. If that is the case Tom, you should run over to St. Catherine’s and pray for forgiveness. Oh, that’s right; I do know the truth…better get the Men’s Club to start praying for you.

Mayor Heilmann,
Since you believe that the Village’s computer system has been breached, I certainly hope that you will do the right thing, follow Illinois State Law and make notification to every person contained within all of the Village’s databases that there is a potential that their identity has been compromised. Perhaps you should spend many tens of thousands of dollars performing a bogus IT audit, hold the accused against their will under false arrest, not allow them to defend themselves and try to ruin their lives. This is after all the process you utilize, is it not? Or, do you do that only for people who worked to support you, were loyal and dedicated and were being sexually harassed?

What a zinger. Never heard that one before.
Hey I really respect your upstanding step brothers Peyton and Eli. Not surprising that they never mention you though.

why does the patch still have this on the front page. Oh wait i forgot this is sandy burys campaingn paper.

Where is Patch's coverage of this story? http://southtownstar.suntimes.com/neighborhoodstar/oaklawn/16707776-418/audit-oak-lawn-should-adopt-fest-policies.html

http://patch.com/A-zXrb

Lorraine your allegiance is showing.

Fact #1....Andy can do whatever he pleases on "The Patch". Fact #2.....Andy thinks his options are messages from above and he likes to think everyone should follow his word as gospel. He does not have the ability to have a discussion as he throws a hissyfit whenever anyone expresses a different point of view Fact #3: With that mentality and the vehicle of "The Patch" is an unchecked destructive force. Final Fact. Thus given this scenerio the best way to neutralize "Andy" is to ignore him. Yes this will make him stomp his feet harder and throw a tantrum...but eventually he will take his toys and leave and the adults can have a real discussion.

That's just the facts.....as I see them.

When did oak lawn put a Greek Andy on the payroll? So your w bury I can see you met at the buffet. She is out of breath talking let alone being mayor. Think feds should look at bury and phelan breaking all kinds of laws. Andy too.