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Mautino begins releasing documentation

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Illinois

* Illinois Valley News Tribune…

Frank Mautino says now the more than $200,000 he racked up in fuel and auto service charges since 1999 wasn’t accumulated through his personal vehicle alone but in fact for four vehicles, including one owned and driven by a campaign worker.

After weeks of silence over questions raised about his campaign expenditures, the longtime Democratic state representative, now Illinois auditor general, released Tuesday a kind of statement explaining somewhat his fuel expenditures. These reached the seemingly improbable total of $213,000 from Happy’s Super Service in Spring Valley over more than a decade. […]

-A 2014 Ford Fiesta with 93,000 miles
-A 2002 Ford Explorer with 200,000 miles
-A 2014 Chevrolet Equinox with 30,000 miles
-A 1997 Ford F-150 with undisclosed miles
(NOTE: The Equinox mileage appears to be 30,000; the letter issued as a PDF file by Mautino spokesman Ryan Keith was not consistently legible.)

“All of these vehicles are personal vehicles,” Mautino wrote, excepting the F-150 which belonged to campaign worker Harry Pelka. “All the vehicles have been used for personal and campaign use. My primary work and campaign vehicle is the 2014 Ford Fiesta.” […]

The Ford Explorer, which Mautino said was primarily driven by campaign worker William Losey, alone accounts for 200,000 miles and would have been driven during calendar years when per-gallon fuel costs would have consistently been more than $3 and at times more than $4.

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Feb 10, 16 @ 10:50 am

Comments

Is it normal for a state representative to employ a fleet of four vehicles for political/constituent work? (just asking, I’m a little naïve on this stuff)

Comment by Downstate Wednesday, Feb 10, 16 @ 10:54 am
At least he buys American cars, so he’s got that going for him, which is pretty nice.

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Feb 10, 16 @ 11:00 am
The auditor will hand himself with these numbers.

Let’s assume 100,000 miles on the F-150 and let’s assume 80% of all miles driven on all vehicles were for campaign and not personal purposes. And let’s further assume $3.50 average for a gallon of gas. And let’s assume a very conservative 15 mpg.

That comes to $79,000 in campaign fuel costs.

Comment by old pol Wednesday, Feb 10, 16 @ 11:01 am
A good start at an explanation; I hope he keeps it up.

Gas wasn’t that expensive in December 2015.

Comment by Robert the Bruce Wednesday, Feb 10, 16 @ 11:02 am
If you allowed an average of $0.50 per mile for work related travel, as the IRS does, then that would amount to $161,500 for his three vehicles. Adding an unknown number of miles for a fourth vehicle gets him closer to the $200,000 figure.

Except he didn’t claim it as mileage reimbursement. Oops.

Comment by 47th Ward Wednesday, Feb 10, 16 @ 11:04 am
Not even close to a plausible explanation. Sad but I see this going down a very dark path for Frank.

Comment by Chicago Cynic Wednesday, Feb 10, 16 @ 11:07 am
C’mon, Frank!

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Feb 10, 16 @ 11:20 am
These districts are large…but not large enough to have a fleet of campaign vehicles. He should explain the necessity for this, because that seems to be the root of confusion here.

Comment by NIU Grad Wednesday, Feb 10, 16 @ 11:21 am
This seems to be an “I did it because I could!” type of reason.

Comment by Team Sleep Wednesday, Feb 10, 16 @ 11:28 am
Over a ten year period, and considering what’s listed here. It sounds justified to me. Rauner bankrolls the ILGOP. When are they going to investigate the prepaid debit cards his campaign passed out?

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Feb 10, 16 @ 11:35 am
I assume many of those miles were helping other candidates. He was in leadership and I am sure asked to attend many campaign events across the state. I also believe it is reasonable to have time to respond to your accusers. I don’t think his response is all that slow given the amount of time they are asking about. This in my view is going to be if you want to believe something is wrong you will, no matter what he presents.

Comment by Augie Wednesday, Feb 10, 16 @ 11:36 am
Let me clarify, gives to organizations which in turn bankrolls the ILGOP to push his agenda.

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Feb 10, 16 @ 11:36 am
I keep vehicles a long time, so I can do a bit of ballpark on what maintenance and repairs should have been. So let’s take the 2002 Ford Explorer and do some figuring using typical service station / retail pricing. (Note: I used the EPA’s MPG estimates, which are probably better than the real world.)

EPA combined gas mileage for a 2002 Ford Explorer is 15 - 17 mpg. 200,000 miles / 16 mpg = 12,500 gallons. At $3/gal, that is $37,500 in just gas. Toss in oil changes every 3,000 miles at $30 average, that is another $2,000. Add a couple of tune-ups and you’re over $40,000 for this vehicle without any repairs. It’s probably been through at least 5 sets of tires, another $3,000 or so depending on brand and quality. Probably a $1,000 in exhaust work and some starter / alternator replacements would add up to another $1,000. Preventative maintenance like air filters, antifreeze flush and replace, etc. another $1,000.

So we’re up to about $46,000 in just normal ownership expenses. Add in a couple of minor repairs or gas over $3/gal, and I could see spending $50K -$60K on just the Explorer.

The 1997 Ford F150 pickup would have gotten very similar gas mileage, so with similar mileage, expenses could have also been similar. Swag it at $50K - $60K also.

The two newer cars should have done better, plus they have been driven less miles. Swag them at more like $25K - $30K total.

I guess I could see up to $150K in expected expenses, maybe more if gas was higher than $3/gal or gas mileage worse than EPA estimated. Also, a single major repair like engine or transmission rebuild, could easily run anywhere from $2,000 to $10,000 if you have a garage do the work. Don’t know if all that adds up to $63K.

I’m also wondering if there were other (older) vehicles that the 2014’s replaced that we haven’t accounted for.

Bottom line - my estimates figure all the mileage / expenses as official or campaign related. May, repeat, may be some over reporting of campaign usage or just sloppy record-keeping / reporting, but you can’t be sure from this information.

Comment by RNUG Wednesday, Feb 10, 16 @ 11:38 am
Wow took 11 comments before someone made this about Rauner in part…

You guys are slipping…

Were all of the charges at one location? Seems kind of strange you buy all your gas at one location.

Comment by OneMan Wednesday, Feb 10, 16 @ 11:55 am
Rich, is any of this confusion related to the use of pre-1998 and post-1998 campaign cash? I may have the year of the personal use changes wrong. If I remember correctly didn’t some people take out loans to boos their wide-open use cash amounts?

Comment by 100 miles west Wednesday, Feb 10, 16 @ 11:57 am
Not at all strange to buy all your gas from one location in a small town, especially if the owner is a friend/supporter. I worked briefly for the State back in the ’80s and the state paid for my gas. They specifically asked me to set up an account at one gas station. Not unusual at all.

Comment by Michael Westen Wednesday, Feb 10, 16 @ 12:17 pm
The committees I’ve worked for usually reimburse at the IRS rate for miles actually travelled and documented. It’s just too easy to mix personal and business travel when you just fill tanks and hand out gas cards. When we give gas cards, they’re reported to the BOE and considered income. I don’t look good in orange.

Comment by Archiesmom Wednesday, Feb 10, 16 @ 12:21 pm
Right now, I’m wondering whether the IRS and IL tax folks have this on their radar. I’d bet on it.

Comment by Archiesmom Wednesday, Feb 10, 16 @ 12:26 pm
==Bottom line - my estimates figure all the mileage / expenses as official or campaign related.===

RNUG, realistically can’t be 100% campaign use, can it?

Comment by justacitizen Wednesday, Feb 10, 16 @ 12:34 pm
Spring Valley to Mendota on the north edge of the district - 20 miles
Spring Valley to Streator on the southeast corner of the district - 35 miles
Spring Valley to Marseilles on the east edge of the district - 35 miles

Comment by Shemp Wednesday, Feb 10, 16 @ 2:30 pm
Conduct an audit.

Comment by Old Timer Wednesday, Feb 10, 16 @ 2:44 pm
He claims they were used for both personal AND campaign. That means he has to have a record of the miles and expenses directly tied to Campaign. Interesting he has yet to make mention of the bank expenditures, which I think are far more problematic.

Comment by Kirk Allen Wednesday, Feb 10, 16 @ 3:14 pm
Guessin’ the $upper$tara will babble all this when the negative audit findin’s start rollin’ out

Comment by Annonn'' Wednesday, Feb 10, 16 @ 3:21 pm
Two 2014 vehicles weren’t around most of the time these expenses. So what years are covered by expenses.

Comment by southottawa Wednesday, Feb 10, 16 @ 3:45 pm
== realistically can’t be 100% campaign use, can it? ==

Maybe for 1 vehicle, but not all 4.

Comment by RNUG Wednesday, Feb 10, 16 @ 3:49 pm
The Fiesta and the Equinox were used in the 2012 campaign.

Comment by southottawa Wednesday, Feb 10, 16 @ 4:07 pm
Mautino might think about not listening to his PR guy and consult an election attorney. He also might want to look at 10 ILCS 5/9-8.10(a)(9) related to vehicles not purchased or leased by a political committee.

Comment by SangamoGOP Wednesday, Feb 10, 16 @ 4:10 pm
This is really bad. Not the kind of detail focus you want in a state auditor. Too sloppy.

Comment by DuPage Dave Wednesday, Feb 10, 16 @ 8:00 pm
Southottawa, how could 2014 vehicles be used in the 2012 campaign? At the earliest, they wouldn’t have been available until mid-2013. Did you mean 2014 campaign?

Comment by Arthur Andersen Wednesday, Feb 10, 16 @ 9:20 pm
Arthur Anderson No just messing with the details. They were around during 2014 campaign. one 93000 the other 30000 miles. How much gas and repairs are required to go this many miles. There would $17000 in gas alone. How many expenses were paid during this campaign

Comment by southottawa Thursday, Feb 11, 16 @ 2:17 pm