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AG Madigan argues against Mautino hearing delay

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Illinois

* Attorney General Lisa Madigan doesn’t think Auditor General Frank Mautino should be granted a delay in his pending Illinois State Board of Elections hearing…

This week, she filed a brief asking First District Appellate Court in Chicago to deny the Spring Valley Democrat’s request to delay the state Board of Elections’ inquiry into his campaign spending.

In his request for delay, Mautino, whose campaign spending is under federal criminal investigation, cited his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

In her brief to the court, the attorney general said she recognized the elections board’s administrative proceedings put Mautino in a less than ideal situation, but he would not suffer irreparable harm. That’s because he could still invoke his Fifth Amendment rights during the proceedings, she said.

“Therefore, he can choose not to take any action that would jeopardize a possible defense to any possible future criminal charges,” she wrote. “And while a negative inference may be drawn in the proceedings from Mautino’s invocation of his right to remain silent, the state board must prove its case against (him).”

In the elections board’s hearing, Madigan said, Mautino can still mount a “vigorous defense through cross-examination and other means.”

The state, she said, wanted a speedy resolution of the proceedings because of its interest in regulating the election process and ensuring political committees observe the rules.

Discuss.

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 12:40 pm

Comments

I’m a strong 5th Amendment advocate.

I’m also a pretty big fan of campaign finance law.

I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask for some clarification for unusual campaign finance spending and really, if just saying what you spent and how you spend it puts you in a situation where you’re self-incriminating or concerned that you may be doing so, there’s absolutely zero excuse to put off the hearing.

General Madigan has made the right move here. It’s reasonable to expect an elected official to be able to give an accounting of their campaign spending.

Comment by Anon Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 12:50 pm
==The state, she said, wanted a speedy resolution of the proceedings…==

Speedy resolution. You would think a thorough investigation leading to a conclusive resolution would be the “want” of any state AG investigation, but hey, they are the pros.

Comment by Touré's Latte Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 12:55 pm
The AGs reasoning seems solid to me. Mautino is not being compelled to incriminate himself and the board still has to prove its case.

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 12:55 pm
Hang in there Frank. You just have to last until January to get the 2nd pension.

Comment by Huh? Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 1:17 pm
There is no reason the Democrats want to drag this out, I’m sure they want a speedy resolve.

Comment by Ahoy! Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 1:20 pm
The wheels of the bus go ’round and ’round…

Comment by Commonsense in Illinois Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 1:36 pm
@Huh? 1:17pm ==Hang in there Frank. You just have to last until January to get the 2nd pension.==

If he is convicted of a felony involving his official position, he won’t get the pension.

Comment by DuPage Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 1:56 pm
I don’t see why there should be any delay. He can exercise his 5th amendment right all he wants during the inquiry. The board and the people of Illinois have a right to know how he is spending his campaign finances. If he won’t provide answers, well, that’s his right. But it is not his right to avoid an inquiry altogether.

Comment by AlfondoGonz Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 1:58 pm
I grew up in a small town. A close friend of my dad’s runs a garage and we get everything taken care of there. The guy is cheap, does great work, and is willing to accommodate people who may not be able to afford high-end repairs. He is also a sloppy bookkeeper and routinely fails to bill people for services rendered. The conspiracy theorist in me wonders if perhaps the garage in question in Spring Valley operated/operates in such a manner - only on purpose and with a “wink nod” kind of agreement. That may seem far-fetched to some, but it is taking Mr. Mautino a VERY long time to cobble together documents that should be readily available. I keep a file folder of all work done on my cars, and when I did campaign/consulting work I saved all of my receipts and PDFs of payment confirmations. The sheer amount of time that this has dragged on is bordering on insane.

Comment by Team Sleep Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 2:18 pm
Don’t see how more time magically produces more documents. Mautino’s in a legal bind, but the AG won’t be saving him.

Comment by walker Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 3:22 pm
Just hard to know whether this cat is on Life #8 or Life #9. He may be too far in to turn back. Just a sad situation…self inflicted.

Comment by A guy Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 4:30 pm
Mautino needs to show his hand the best he can and hope both “investigations” end in his favor.

Dunno if that will be the end result… in either case.

Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 4:54 pm
==The state, she said, wanted a speedy resolution of the proceedings…==

===Speedy resolution. You would think a thorough investigation leading to a conclusive resolution would be the “want” of any state AG investigation, but hey, they are the pros.===

Disagree. With Mautino’s state auditors trying to do their jobs auditing things such as state employees travel, the timeliness of resolving whether the chief auditor cheated on travel reimbursements is critical.

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 9:24 pm
DuPage - his problems are not related to his official duties, they are campaign finance issues, not State Representative and certainly not Auditor. If he can just hold out a little longer his pension goes up by an astronomical amount as Auditor is a full-time position with a sweet salary, and State Representative is a part-time position with just an okay salary.

Mautino’s desire to not incriminate himself is an issue for the courts, not the State Board of Elections.

Comment by Just Me Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 10:36 pm