Former Mayoral Candidate Threatened to Kill City Administrator: Lawsuit

BRAIDWOOD, IL — A former mayoral candidate threatened to kill the erstwhile Braidwood city administrator, according to a lawsuit filed in Will County court.

Former administrator Andy Gallate sued Robert Snedeker, claiming Snedeker told him he would “beat his ass” and “put a bullet in your head.”

Snedeker made the threats over the phone in December 2015 and the following January, the lawsuit said. Gallate was still the city administrator at that time.

Snedeker, 51, also “engaged in a series of blog postings, public comments, and made various and general derogatory comments and allegations about the honesty and competence of” Gallate, the suit said.

Gallate was the Braidwood administrator until June, a city official said. In his lawsuit, Gallate accused Snedeker of telephone harassment and the intentional infliction of emotional distress. The suit says Gallate “became anxious, upset and endured an unreasonable fear for the safety and well being of both himself and his family.”

No criminal charges have been filed in connection with Gallate’s claims.

Snedeker filed a lawsuit of his own last month, suing former Braidwood Police Chief Rich Girot in federal court.

Snedeker claimed that two days after he filed his signature petition to run for mayor in December 2014, Girot illegally accessed a police database to check his background, then used what he found to “degrade, humiliate and insult (Snedeker) in an open city council meeting,” the lawsuit said.

photo via Patch archive