Former State Trooper Encourages Activism in Illinois

About 160 people, including more than 20 local Republican candidates, gathered at for a luncheon Friday featuring author and retired Illinois State Police Lieutenant Michale Callahan. 

While recounting the story he tells in his book, Too Politically Sensitive, Callahan called on the audience to take action against government corruption. The Elmhurst-based group For the Good of Illinois sponsored the Liberty Lunch.

“It’s you people who will get something done,” he said. “I’m just trying to tell a story that was an egregious story.”

Callahan has a petition before the U.S. Supreme Court that argues state police officials retaliated against him by transferring him off a cold case murder investigation after he questioned how prosecutors handled it.

Two men convicted in the 1986 murders of a downstate Illinois couple were released from jail after Callahan’s investigation in the early 2000s revealed state prosecutors mishandled the initial inquiry. Randy Steidl was released in 2004 and Herb Whitlock was released in 2008. The case remains open. 

By taking Callahan off the case, he said, the state police violated his First Amendment right to freedom of speech. Until 2008, the state of Illinois didn’t have a whistleblower protection law that covered public employees.

Callahan won his initial suit in 2005, but the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the ruling in 2008 as a result of the Supreme Court’s decision in Garcetti v. Ceballos. The decision in Garcetti held that the First Amendment doesn’t protect statements public employees make while on the job. 

“They have created an adversarial system that I have learned first hand is not about justice anymore,” Callahan said.

For the Good of Illinois volunteer Jennifer Babbington said she organized the event as a way to empower people who wanted to get involved with state issues but didn’t know how. 

“We’re bringing people info they won’t get anywhere else,” she said.

American Majority representative Sarah Gough echoed Callahan’s call out in her remarks. 

“Don’t just go back to your average life,” she said. “Make a decision to get more involved.” 

Republican politicians from across the area attended the lunch, including Jim Oberweis, running for the state senate in the 25th District, Laura Reigle, a candidate for state representative in the 82nd District, and incumbent state Sen. Ron Sandack (Downers Grove).