By Eric Stock
CHICAGO – A federal judge has thrown out part of a lawsuit against former Illinois State Treasurer Dan Rutherford.
U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow on Thursday dismissed a claim that Rutherford ran the state treasurer’s office as a campaign operation when he was running for governor in 2014. Ed Michalowski had claimed that Rutherford and top aides Kyle Ham and Curt Conrad had ordered him to do campaign work on state time or be fired. The judge ruled there wasn’t sufficient evidence of that.
The judge also ruled that Michalowski’s claim of sexual harassment against Rutherford can proceed. Michalowski claimed Rutherford sexually harassed him for several years.
The lawsuit, filed in 2014, helped sink Rutherford’s campaign for governor.
Eric Stock can be reached at eric.stock@cumulus.com.
