PAC Excuses Proven Open Meetings Act Violation Using Gag Order Against Whistleblower

LaSalle, IL — The Illinois Attorney General’s Public Access Bureau (PAC), the office tasked with enforcing the Open Meetings Act (OMA), is facing growing criticism for what watchdogs are calling a “retaliatory whitewash” of a clear legal violation by the City of LaSalle. Despite confirming that the City failed to post its June 10, 2024, City Council agenda in accordance with Illinois law, the PAC declined to take enforcement action — citing a protective order against the complainant as justification.

That complainant is Jamie Hicks, an investigative journalist and former mayoral candidate who has spent years uncovering corruption in LaSalle city government. Hicks filed the OMA complaint after discovering that the City failed to post the council meeting agenda in a publicly accessible location for the required 48 hours — a direct violation of 5 ILCS 120/2.02. The PAC agreed.

“They admitted the violation,” Hicks said. “But then excused it by saying I was under a restraining order and couldn’t attend anyway. That’s not how the law works. That’s not how justice works.”

In its written disposition, the PAC cited Hicks’ court-ordered absence from the meeting — an order that is now under appellate review — as justification for taking no further action. Legal experts say this rationale is not only flawed, but irrelevant under the law.

“The Open Meetings Act exists to protect the public’s right to know, not the complainant’s ability to attend,” said a FOIA attorney who reviewed the case. “Citing Hicks’ legal status to excuse a confirmed OMA violation is not enforcement — it’s retaliation by omission.”

Hicks has since filed a formal demand for a binding opinion under 5 ILCS 120/3.5(e) and submitted a complaint to the Office of the Executive Inspector General (OEIG), citing misconduct, bias, and selective non-enforcement by PAC officials, including Senior Assistant Attorney General Edie Steinberg.

That protective order — politically motivated and now under appeal — became a state-sanctioned excuse to shield LaSalle from consequences. In Edie Steinberg’s view, if the complainant couldn’t be in the room, the law didn’t apply.

Let that sink in.

Under that logic, if you’re an elderly resident who can’t drive… the Open Meetings Act doesn’t apply to you.
If you’re a disabled citizen relying on online access… you don’t count.
If you’re a working mother managing children and work… too bad.
If you’re a veteran with PTSD, a homebound resident, or someone barred for political reasons, your right to know what your government is doing vanishes — all because you weren’t physically present.

The law doesn’t require you to be in the room — it requires that the public be informed. The PAC’s decision sets a dangerous precedent: if a citizen is silenced, so is the law.

The City of LaSalle violated the Open Meetings Act — that is not in dispute. Under Illinois law, violations may lead to injunctions, invalidation of votes, and legal penalties. The PAC is mandated to enforce, not rationalize, these violations. To do otherwise is to abandon their statutory duty.

This is not Hicks’ first confrontation with institutional retaliation. He is preparing a federal civil rights lawsuit against LaSalle officials, Carus Chemical, and others for alleged First and Fourteenth Amendment violations — including illegal surveillance, sealed warrants, FOIA obstruction, and the abuse of protective orders.

Hicks also has multiple FOIA and OMA cases pending with the PAC — some languishing for over two years without response. Others have been dismissed without explanation. The 2024 PAC 81750 ruling is just one part of a documented pattern of delays, neglect, and bureaucratic shielding of public officials from transparency.

“Now the state is in on it,” Hicks said. “PAC’s job is to enforce transparency laws — not weaponize legal status against the people trying to hold government accountable.”

Hicks has published the PAC’s disposition letter, his binding opinion demand, and a timeline of delayed cases on Hicks News, along with additional evidence. A full exposé on systemic failures within the Illinois Attorney General’s transparency division is forthcoming.

About Jamie Hicks

Jamie Hicks is an investigative journalist, public accountability advocate, and former mayoral candidate based in LaSalle, Illinois. He operates Hicks News, a citizen journalism outlet dedicated to uncovering corruption in local government and exposing the abuse of public trust.