Burr Ridge Fighting For Official's Facebook Page

BURR RIDGE, IL – Burr Ridge's attorney plans to represent a village trustee who has been sued over his Facebook page.

On Monday, DuPage County Court records showed that the Rosemont-based Storino Ramello & Durkin law firm is representing Trustee Tony Schiappa in the matter.

In May, resident Patricia Davis filed a lawsuit in DuPage County Court against Schiappa.

Schiappa maintains a page that is titled, "Tony Schiappa, Burr Ridge Trustee." The page, which is categorized as "Government & Public Service," contains an introduction that says he is "honored to be one of the trustees of the Village of Burr Ridge."

In the spring, he promoted on the Facebook page the candidacies of Arlene Cabana and Baron Leacock, who were running for the Lyons Township High School and Hinsdale High School District 86 boards, respectively.

Illinois law bars government employees and officers of any town from taking part in political activities in their official roles.

In the lawsuit, Davis said Schiappa represents himself on the Facebook page as a government actor authorized to speak on behalf of the village.

She said Schiappa has endorsed candidates on the page as far back as 2015, which is when he was elected to the Village Board. She said Schiappa could use his personal page for such messages.

Davis is seeking a court order banning Schiappa from posting political endorsements on the Facebook page in question and removing all the others.

When Patch wrote about the issue in May, Schiappa said in an email that he was the only administrator for the page titled, "Tony Schiappa, Burr Ridge Trustee."

"The Facebook account does not have a link to the Village of Burr Ridge Web site or Facebook page. My Facebook account has no affiliation with the Village of Burr Ridge," he said.

But Alisa Kaplan, executive director of Chicago-based Reform for Illinois, disagreed. She said Schiappa "clearly presents it as being an official page and therefore that he is acting in his official capacity on it."

In a statement Tuesday, Kaplan said, "I find it perplexing that the Village would spend valuable resources to fight this rather than simply urging Trustee Schiappa to remove the posts in question."

In an email to Patch, Mayor Gary Grasso said, "A resident with a concern about the action of a Trustee or Mayor should ask the Village Board to hear his/her concern. When a resident instead sues a trustee or mayor in his or her capacity as a village elected official, of course, the Village Attorney will necessarily become involved."