The Michael McClain email fall out continues. The Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board entered into a contract with Forrest Ashby on September 9th last year for his past history in the Department of Corrections, according to a press release from Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board today. Upon learning of Ashby’s role in the center of McClain’s emails, the Board moved to suspend Ashby’s contract.
According to a report from the State Journal Register from 2009, Michael McClain’s brother Kevin McClain of Springfield was infamously appointed to the board amid allegations that political influence drove the choice. The Board endorsed Kevin McClain in a 13-4 vote at that time and he served until former Adams County Sheriff Brent Fischer replaced him in 2015. Both Michael McClain and Ashby are residents of Quincy in Adams County.
After lawmakers called for a grand jury investigation in Champaign County on Tuesday, Champaign County State’s Attorney Julia Reitz says she will not open a probe into the alleged rape that the email uncovered. In a written statement to WBEZ, she said had not received phone calls or emails from any of the people named in the McClain email nor did she know anything about the emails. Reitz also said that Champaign County has no grand juries and that the county, due to financial reasons, leaves investigation to local authorities.
Minority Leader Jim Durkin has issued a letter to Speaker Michael Madigan to convene the State Government Administration Committee to investigate the allegations in the email. Durkin also asked for the Speaker to subpoena all the individuals implicated for testimony in front of the committee. Democratic Representative Deb Conroy of Elmhurst went so far to request that Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office take the lead on investigation due to Reitz’s lack of action.