Column: Still no word on Kim Foxx’s handling of the Jussie Smollett case from Dan Webb, an inside man
It’s been almost a year since Dan Webb was named special prosecutor to investigate Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s epic bungling of the Jussie Smollett hate crime hoax case.
And after 11 months, no answers from Dan Webb, only crickets.
In just a few weeks, on Sept. 24, early voting begins. There is a choice between incumbent Foxx, the Democrat protege of Toni Preckwinkle, the Cook County Democratic boss and president of the County Board, and Patrick O’Brien, a longtime criminal prosecutor and former judge.
Voters are waiting for Webb’s report and answers to a series of troubling questions:
Did Foxx give Smollett — the Hollywood actor and Obama White House entertainer — special treatment after she spoke with attorney Tina Tchen, the chief of staff for former first lady Michelle Obama, a Smollett fan?
Did Foxx commit prosecutorial misconduct by indicting Smollett on 16 counts, then abruptly dropping the charges, while insisting she had “recused” herself from the case even though she did not?
Did Smollett get inside justice the Chicago Way because he knew somebody?
We still don’t have any answers, Dan Webb.
“He’s got to come up with a result before early voting begins on Sept. 24,” O’Brien told me Wednesday. “You can’t have people voting on this race without answers, or some kind of conclusion. Voters have the right to know if they’re going to be voting for a state’s attorney under indictment for official misconduct.”
I called Webb’s office at the law firm Winston & Strawn, to get his timetable on releasing his report on Foxx. I didn’t expect a comment, but I asked his assistant anyway, to give him the opportunity to respond.
I’m still waiting.
Webb has a good reputation in this town. He’s a former U.S. attorney and top litigator with serious political reach and connections.
He’s an inside man. He knows everybody and, given the jobs he’s had, many secrets.
Last August, when he was appointed special prosecutor by Cook County Judge Michael Toomin, the common wisdom was that Webb would impanel a grand jury and get some answers and protect his reputation.
But common wisdom is often a fool.
He’s reindicted Smollett on six counts of that hate crime fraud. But Webb has yet to provide Cook County voters with answers about Foxx, and time is running out.
During the Smollett fiasco, Foxx’s office insisted that after those private communications with Smollett’s celebrity friends, she recused herself from the case. Then her office told me she’d only recused herself in the “colloquial sense.” That was it. I was done.
Since then she’s avoided commenting specifically about the case.
Do I have reservations about Foxx?
Yes.
Do I have reservations about Webb?
Yes.
On May 1, Web was featured in a Sun-Times story by stellar investigative reporter Tim Novak. The story was about Webb’s work as special prosecutor in the death of David Koschman.
You remember David Koschman?
It was 16 years ago when Koschman, then 21, a short, slight young man, went out with his friends to the bars on Division Street. That’s what his mom told me.
They ran into a group that included then-Mayor Richard M. Daley’s nephew Richard J. “R.J.” Vanecko.
Vanecko was a weightlifter then, a head taller than Koschman, and outweighed Koschman by a hundred pounds of muscle. Words were exchanged on the street. The hulking Vanecko, a grown man, threw a punch at the much smaller kid out on his first night of legal drinking.
Koschman hit the street, unconscious. He was put on life support for more than a week and died.
Years later, as special prosecutor in the case, Webb finally obtained an indictment and Vanecko plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter.
Daley supporters and their mouthpieces insisted that no special favors, no clout or special leverage were used.
But this is Chicago.
A witness was questioned who lied to detectives. The witness said he didn’t know any of the men who ran away after Koschman was punched. But the puncher’s group had all been together at an engagement party for a daughter of Michael Daley, a brother of the mayor.
Novak reported that Bridget McCarthy, the wife of the witness, called Michael Daley. Within hours the police investigation stopped. It resumed more than a week later, after Koschman was pulled from life support. When the plug was pulled, it was a homicide.
I figured then that Koschman’s time on life support gave everyone time to get their stories straight.
Webb never made those calls to Michael Daley public. Novak reported that the phone records remain sealed under a court order by Toomin, the same judge who appointed Webb as special prosecutor in the Foxx/Smollett fiasco.
Koschman family lawyers called it a cover-up by Daley’s City Hall. I don’t know that for a fact.
What I do know is that when the true boss of Chicago, the late Mayor Richard J. Daley, was dying, he wanted to make one call. A call to a son.
Not Rich. Not Bill. Not Johnny. The old man wanted Michael on the phone.
Dan Webb is an inside man.
And the people of Cook County are waiting for the inside man’s report on Kim Foxx and Jussie Smollett, before votes are cast.
Listen to “The Chicago Way” podcast with John Kass and Jeff Carlin — at www.wgnradio.com/category/wgn-plus/thechicagoway.
Twitter @John_Kass
———
©2020 the Chicago Tribune
Visit the Chicago Tribune at www.chicagotribune.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
