Conspiracy theories touted by University of Illinois Professor and prior Urbana City Council member Erik J. Sacks have finally been put to rest and shut down after a federal lawsuit which was filed by some of Sacks’s victims.
Sacks had been appointed to a vacant City Council seat by Mayor Diane Marlin, and in an attempt to promote himself in the following election, Sacks publicly proclaimed that most of the other candidates on the ballot were part of a terrorist group and that the “City is under attack”.
Professor Sacks explained that he knew this because of research that he had performed on the internet. Sacks had apparently conferred with conspiracy theorist Bonnie Kurowski, who had made numerous websites attacking investigative journalists, particularly the Edgar County Watchdogs (ECWs).
Kurowski, like Sacks, spent her time making false allegations and inventing conspiracy stories in an effort to harass journalists who might expose misconduct. Sacks and Kurowski claimed that journalists who do investigative work exposing the misconduct of public officials “are far Right wing extremists and are being called American Terrorists who are trying to destroy American democracy, laws, and the government”.
Sacks specifically claimed that Check CU reporter Christopher Hansen was engaged in terrorism with the Edgar County Watchdogs because Sacks had learned that Hansen and the ECWs had both filed a lawsuit against the City of Urbana for muting residents at public meetings. Sacks wanted Urbana Mayor Diane Marlin to continue muting residents for criticizing public officials, though the Illinois Attorney General later determined her conduct to be criminal and the City eventually paid to settle the lawsuit.
In 2021, journalists John Kraft and Kirk Allen of the Edgar County Watchdogs sued Kurowski in federal court for libel and defamation. In February of 2023, Kurowski finally admitted that she had made up numerous lies and conspiracy theories. In an apology letter, she admitted that she had made dozens of false allegations purely in an effort to be malicious and retaliatory toward investigative journalism that exposes the misconduct of public officials.
Sacks, who was not named in the federal lawsuit due to his lesser involvement, has yet to retract any of his identical claims.
U of I Professor Eric Jakobsson (who held the same City Council seat as Sacks before he quit the position), also agreed with Sacks’s research conclusions. Jakobsson hoped that he and other entrenched politicians could think of similar ways to harass and retaliate against journalists who expose misconduct in Urbana.
Audrey Ishii, another elderly Urbana City official who is also the wife of prior Urbana City Clerk Charlie Smyth, joined Sacks’s conspiracy group. Ishii was outraged that journalists had exposed her husband’s unlawful denial of records and his plan to scam certain FOIA requesters out of thousands of dollars in illegal fees. Ishii’s involved was later described as “reprehensible” by an Urbana review board.
Sacks’s election tactics were publicly endorsed by his two biggest campaign sponsors: Urbana Park District Board President Michael W. Walker and U of I Ethics Professor C.K. (Tina) Gunsalus.
I know Erik Sacks and he is a nasty nasty person. The shit he did here is exactly the kind of person he is. Nasty manipulative liar. So sad that someone like this can claim to be a professor.
Some seriously unhinged and dysfunctional people working for the University of Illinois. You’d think with all the sensitivity training and everything being pushed now that someone with half a brain at the college would tell these people to either keep their mouths shut or find work someplace else.
Why is he still employed by UIUC? This isn’t having a different opinion, its malicious libel.
Lots of UIUC professors are like this. They pretend to be kings and queens of knowledge when in reality they know they’re being stupid and malicious. They just don’t care. Now professor Sacks is teaching future generations to be malicious and underhanded. It’s disgusting.