For Immediate Release:
Contact: John Kieken, 708-302-5332
Personal Attacks on Stop NorthPoint Spokeswoman Backfire on Sender
Overwhelming community support swelled in favor of Erin Gallagher, only strengthening opposition to NorthPoint Development. Local and federal authorities are involved.
Information concerning thousands of robo-texts offering personal cell phone number and residence of Erin Gallagher, who is the volunteer spokesperson for Stop NorthPoint LLC, (but is not a public official), are being turned over to local and federal authorities, according to Stop NorthPoint attorney Robert Fioretti.
Despite the robo-text message urging recipients to harass Mrs. Gallagher, the effort resulted instead with an overwhelming number of strangers and friends showing support to her and the Stop NorthPoint movement, many telling her to “keep up the good work.”
“People know that Mrs. Gallagher has been a force for good in the community, not only with the Stop NorthPoint lawsuit, but also helping numerous food pantries and Covid relief,” Firoretti said. “These personal attacks on her and her family are not only false, they demonstrate the lengths certain people will go to.”
On Friday, thousands of robo-texts we sent to Joliet registered voters as well as union members statewide encouraging recipients to call Mrs. Gallagher’s private cell to tell her to keep her “anti-union agenda out of Joliet.”
“I want to personally thank all the friends and strangers who reached out to support me when my family and I were under attack by malicious forces who need to lie and cheat to get ahead,” Gallagher said. “We are all safe, and the outpour of love well-overshadowed some of the vile messages that are being investigated.”
Mrs. Gallagher is a Joliet native and Joliet Central Steelman, whose father credits his union after he was drafted and served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War that returned him to his proper job and pay.
Stop NorthPoint is a grassroots organization that organized to file a lawsuit against Northpoint Development and City of Joliet in an effort to create a permanent halt to NorthPoint’s proposed warehousing development five times the size of Midway Airport. The proposed development is positioned across the street from Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery and Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie along Historic Route 66.
Mrs. Gallagher is a community liaison in the public relations firm of Erin Gallagher & Associates. She works with private clients on specific issues including the mental health industry, veterans initiatives, responsible cannabis legislation, and creating business models for small business owners.
Mrs. Gallagher is the volunteer spokesperson, representing dozens of plaintiffs, including the Allen J. Lynch Medal of Honor Veterans Foundation, the Illinois Association of County Veterans Assistance Commissions, numerous Silver Star, Bronze Star and Purple Heart veterans.
Mr. Fioretti has been rated one of the top litigators in the nation by Martindale-Hubble, a rating ranked by peer attorneys. He was also featured in The American Lawyer and The National Law Journal. In addition, Bob was named a 2021 Super Lawyer. Super Lawyers is an exclusive list of top-rated attorneys in specific practice areas who were chosen after thorough evaluation of numerous criteria. No more than 5 percent of the lawyers are selected from each state. He received this honor for 2006, 2008-2011, 2016-2021.
For more information, visit www.StopNorthPoint.com or join the Facebook group Stop NorthPoint.
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Read more in the Joliet Herald-News
Stop NorthPoint spokeswoman responds to robotext
Group says it is turning over information to local and federal authorities after Friday flood of phone calls
by Bob Okon
May 03, 2021 at 3:45 pm CDT
Stop NorthPoint spokeswoman Erin Gallagher said she and the attorney for the organization are contacting authorities about a robotext that they say urged thousands of people to call her cellphone number on Friday.
The robotext appears to be fallout from the April 6 Joliet City Council election, blaming Gallagher for an election-related robocall with which she said she was not involved.
“Friday my phone starting lighting up with messages and phone calls,” Gallagher said Monday. “Some of them were really vile – people accusing me of having an anti-union agenda in Joliet.”
Gallagher said she has been talking with local law enforcement, and Stop NorthPoint attorney Robert Fioretti has contacted federal authorities about the robotext.
A statement issued by Stop NorthPoint on Monday said “thousands of robotexts we sent to Joliet registered voters as well as union members statewide encouraging recipients to call Mrs. Gallagher’s private cell to tell her to keep her ‘anti-union agenda out of Joliet.’”
Gallagher lives in the Manhattan area. However, she and her organization, which is trying to stop NorthPoint Development’s proposed Compass Global Logistics Hub from being built in Joliet, did support anti-NorthPoint candidates in the April City Council election.
The robotext accused Gallagher of using “our local Joliet council election to push her shameful anti-Joliet agenda” with a political phone call the text describes as “hateful” issued over the Easter weekend. It lists Gallagher’s phone number twice and tells people to call her immediately to “tell her to never call your house again.”
The robotext does not identify the source of the message.
“This is apparently saying I was involved with that, and I wasn’t,” Gallagher said. “I was not involved with any robocalls that happened over Easter.”
Gallagher said she received more phone calls supporting her than criticizing her.
“But the vile ones were really vile,” she said.
The statement from Stop NorthPoint quotes Fioretti saying that information concerning the robotexts is being turned over to local and federal authorities.
“These personal attacks on her (Gallagher) and her family are not only false, they demonstrate the lengths certain people will go to,” Fioretti says in the statement.
Stop NorthPoint is the lead plaintiff in a Will County lawsuit trying to block the Compass Global Logistics Hub from being built. A hearing on that suit is scheduled for June 10.
The project enjoys broad support from local building trades unions, which also backed candidates in the City Council election.
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