Private Email Turned Into Mass Mailing on Heilmann Founded Anonymous Blog

A current member of the Oak Lawn Board of Appeals says she never authorized a private email she sent to a few friends concerning an alleged “hit list”

to be used as a part of a mass mailing sent to untold numbers of village
residents last week.

The “letter” from Jean Werner appeared as an attachment on the anonymous
oaklawnleaf.com blog. In the “letter” sent to residents, Werner expressed
frustration over her name appearing on a leaked political document authored
by former trustee Tom Phelan.

The “hit list” outlined in red the appointed commissioners with a history
of supporting the former mayor Dave Heilmann, and recommended their immediate replacement.

In the letter, Werner reportedly wrote:

“I never thought the town I called home would have a government that would
put my name on a secret list for retaliation. But I just found out that it
has happened.”

She further takes the new mayor, Sandra Bury, and her administration to
task, writing: “I serve on the appeals board volunteering my time and
energy to the Village of Oak Lawn. I’ve also served School District 122 as
a school board member for 18 years as an unpaid volunteer. My name is in
red.”

Werner told Patch she never gave permission for her private correspondence
to a few friends to be shared publicly in a mass mailing, which also
included her home address on the package, or on the anonymous oaklawnleaf
blog.

“I did not mail that letter,” said Werner, who’s lived in Oak Lawn since
1939 and raised seven children here. “I sent it as an email to one or two
friends. I have no idea who sent it out.”

According to Werner, the letter was altered from what she originally wrote,
which also references a campaign mailing sent by Village Clerk Jane Quinlan
endorsing Sandra Bury for mayor the weekend before the April election.

“It’s not the same letter,” she said. “They changed words and put words
that I did not say [in the mailed packet]. I love Jane Quinlan. The letter
makes it sound like I don’t like her and that’s not true.”

Werner said she found out about her name appearing on the alleged “hit
list” from another Dist. 122 school board member, on which Werner serves as
board secretary.

The letter that Werner says was altered from her private email
correspondence first appeared as an attachment on an undated blog post on
the Oak Lawn Leaf blog titled, “Mayor Bury and Trustees Draft Political
‘Hit List.’”

About Oak Lawn Leaf . . .

The email notification address on file for Oak Lawn Leaf through the
GoDaddy domain registry is Heilmann’s work email address at his downtown
law firm, Clausen-Miller.

Heilmann said via email on Tuesday afternoon that he secured the domain
name but does not run the site, which presents itself as a news site with
anonymously authored articles. He said he hopes to contribute articles to
the “watchdog blog.”

Read Dave Heilmann’s full response to the discovery that he founded Oak
Lawn Leaf.

Patch also traced the Word document attachments on the Oak Lawn Leaf’s Bury
post, which included the letter and the Phelan-penned “hit list,” to
attorney Dennis Brennan, an associate of Trustee Bob Streit (Dist. 3).

In an email to Patch on Tuesday afternoon, Brennan said via email that he
reviewed the packet prior to its mailing:

“My only involvement in the distribution of the letter and hit list was as
an attorney to make sure that the letter was not libelous. I reviewed the
letter and determined that the contents therein did not contain anything
that may be considered libelous. I determined that the letter was not
defamatory because everything was true based on the hit list that I also
reviewed. When I saved the documents to my computer, the author was
apparently then listed as Dennis Brennan. I obviously didn’t author
either document since Tom Phelan admitted to authoring the hit list and
Jean Werner admitted to writing the other letter.”

Neither Heilmann nor Brennan got back to Patch as to who sent the mass
mailing or how Werner’s private email correspondence was acquired.

Werner said she is discussing with her family whether or not to report to
police the mass mailing that she says fraudulently used her name and
personal correspondence without her permission.

“I want it to go away and stop,” Werner said. “I love Oak Lawn and I don’t
plan on leaving it soon. If they don’t want me on [the board of appeals]
anymore so be it.”

This article was originally published on May 28, 2013, due to technical difficulties with our new platform, this story did not immediately migrate over. It has been republished it in its original entirety.”