By Mark Vargas, Editor-in-Chief & Opinion Contributor
Nearly eight years ago, a government surveillance camera in Cromwell, Connecticut, captured something the town’s top two school administrators probably never expected the public to see.
Superintendent John Maloney and Assistant Superintendent Krista Karch were inside the school administration building after hours. Surveillance footage showed them kissing in the hallway.
Maloney called it an “error in judgment.”
Both administrators were placed on leave. The local newspaper obtained the footage through a public-records request. Maloney was later reinstated, but the controversy continued — and within months, both officials ultimately resigned.
Remember that story. Because the Cromwell pattern has now arrived in Lyons Township.
Democratic Township Clerk Elyse Hoffenberg, who is running for Cook County Board District 17, is at the center of a strikingly similar controversy involving Bridgeview Mayor and former Democratic State Sen. Steven Landek.
Government building.
After hours.
Surveillance cameras.
A kiss.
A public-records request.
And a fight over the footage.
Republican nominee Liz Gorman filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking surveillance recordings from Hoffenberg’s township office. Patch reported that Gorman has not personally seen the footage but was told it shows a “romantic kiss” between Hoffenberg and Landek.
Hoffenberg does not deny the kiss. She calls it a “peck.”
She also says she immediately told Landek the encounter was inappropriate and unprofessional and that he apologized.
Sound familiar?
In Cromwell, it was a kiss followed by an admission of an “error in judgment.” In Lyons Township, it is a kiss — but apparently only a “peck.”
Different state. Different officials. Same damage-control dictionary. But Lyons Township has an added wrinkle: Hoffenberg is also the official who handles FOIA requests for the township.
Gorman initially sought footage covering July 6 through July 20. Hoffenberg rejected the request as “unduly burdensome,” saying it covered more than 100 hours. Gorman then narrowed the request to specific after-hours windows, including July 13.
Meanwhile, Hoffenberg has accused Township Supervisor Chris Getty of improperly accessing selected recordings and has asked the Illinois Attorney General to investigate. There may be legitimate questions about who accessed the camera system and whether proper procedures were followed.
Investigate them. But none of that answers the most obvious question: What does the tape show?
Sources familiar with the footage tell Illinois Review that Hoffenberg and Landek entered her private government office at approximately 5:38 p.m. on July 13 and emerged roughly an hour later. Sources say the two then embraced and kissed before leaving.
So release the video.
That is what makes Cromwell such a powerful comparison.
Once the Connecticut footage became public, nobody needed a politician, lawyer, board member or anonymous source to tell them what happened.
The public watched it. The public judged it. And the officials involved dealt with the consequences.
If Hoffenberg is correct and this was nothing more than a brief, immediately rejected “peck,” releasing the footage should be the fastest way to prove it.
Instead, taxpayers watched as an emergency township board meeting was called — then abruptly canceled at the last minute — while Hoffenberg filed a complaint with the Illinois Attorney General and alleged political retaliation.
Through all of it, the one piece of evidence capable of cutting through the spin remains unseen: the video itself.
And unlike Cromwell, there is an election hanging over everything.
Hoffenberg is running against Gorman for Cook County Board District 17, one of the few seats not controlled by Democrats.
That makes transparency more important, not less.
Voters should not have to choose between competing descriptions of government surveillance footage when the footage itself can settle the question.
Cromwell already showed us what happens when government officials are caught on government cameras after hours.
The tape gets out. The public sees it. Excuses are tested against reality. And accountability follows.
So enough with the argument over whether it was a kiss, a romantic kiss or merely a “peck.”
Release the tape.
Then let Cook County voters decide what they saw — and whether it matters.
