Metro East Sun

Candidate for Illinois 114th House District Kevin Schmidt wants prison time for Gov. J.B. Pritzker over the alleged Jenny Thornley workers’ compensation scandal.

Schmidt opined on social media following an article regarding the alleged scandal.

“Prison time should be coming. Vote for Schmidtforil.com,” he posted on Facebook.

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office said that it referred the case of alleged workers’ comp fraud involving the governor’s office to the Illinois Office of the Appellate Prosecutor. However, it appears this is not the case. 

"[The appellate prosecutor’s office] has never done – to my knowledge – any worker's compensation fraud case," David Robinson, chief deputy director of the state’s attorneys appellate prosecutor, said in an email. 

This case in question regards Thornley, who worked for the State Police Merit Board. She was accused of overtime fraud; when her boss caught wind, she accused him of sexual assault. She was also a Pritzker campaign staffer, and personally called him when she was in trouble. Pritzker’s office knowingly approved her fraudulent workers’ compensation claim regarding the sexual assault that investigations found never happened. Raoul’s office told The Center Square that it referred the original fraud allegations to an appellate prosecutor. Public records show that “the Illinois Office of the Appellate Prosecutor was requested by Sangamon County State’s Attorney Dan Wright and ordered by a judge in April 2021, months before charges were filed against Thornley in the overtime fraud case.” However, “The state’s attorney was already representing Thornley’s son as a victim in a separate criminal case pending in Sangamon County, posing a potential conflict.” 

Separate allegations of workers’ compensation fraud with help from the governor’s office have been made by GOP Attorney General Candidate Tom DeVore. DeVore has accused Raoul of protecting Pritzker instead of doing his job. Raoul said that he referred the workers’ compensation fraud claims to the appellate prosecutor’s office as well. 

The attorney general said he was not going to prosecute the case because “there is a 'typical' and 'common' conflict because Thornley made sexual assault allegations against her supervisor.” He went on to say, “It will look like retaliation if you’re prosecuting the person that you’re adverse, so it’s a typical conflict, which is common.” Raoul has called the allegations by DeVore a “nothing burger.”

Schmidt defeated Kevin Dawson in the Republican primary for the 114th House District with 63.2% of the vote. Schmidt will face incumbent Democrat LaToya Greenwood of East St. Louis in the general. His main issues are the heavy tax burden in Illinois, ending COVID-19 lockdowns, gun rights, parental rights, crime and jobs. Schmidt is a board-certified chiropractor who has seen firsthand how government complicates areas such as health care. He has the endorsements of gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey and State Rep. Blaine Wilhour of Beecher City, Metro East Sun previously reported.