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Appellate court directs Board of Elections to reopen Mautino case

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Illinois

Illinois’ Springfield-based Fourth District Appellate Court on Tuesday ruled that the State Board of Elections must reconsider issues involving the former campaign fund of state Auditor General Frank Mautino.

Previously, an elections board hearing officer found the former Democratic lawmaker “willfully” violated an order that he provide more information about his legislative committee’s spending — in particular more than $247,000 on fuel and car repairs over a 16-year period and other expenditures from a local bank.

Mautino faced a $5,000 fine, and his fund also was subject to a federal investigation. Mautino declined to testify during the board’s previous hearing process. His attorney contended that Mautino’s campaign committee was dissolved and no longer had records to back up the expenses.

But following an appeal brought by the Liberty Justice Center, the legal arm of the conservative Illinois Policy Institute, the Appellate Court ruled that the State Board of Elections “did not address or issue rulings” on some of the claims made in the complaint to the lack of specificity in Mautino’s campaign finance reports. The court sent the case back for further consideration.

The ruling is here.

* From the Illinois News Network, which was formerly run by the Illinois Policy Institute…

The [Illinois State Board of Elections] initially told the plaintiff, Streator resident David Cooke, to forward his case to prosecutors because they have broader powers to investigate the allegations of improper use of campaign funds.

The Fourth District Appellate Court disagreed, saying that the election authority was the proper venue to address Cooke’s complaint.

“We find Cooke’s [election code] claims, if proved, would establish additional violations separate and apart from the Board’s other findings,” the panel wrote. […]

Mautino’s campaign was fined $5,000 in May for failing to report information during a probe into the spending.

A verdict from the board could mean more fines, but because the campaign committee is defunct, it’s unlikely to pay them.

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, May 23, 18 @ 10:23 am

Comments

Doesn’t appear that SBOE has much of a hammer anymore. Are the federales still interested?

Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, May 23, 18 @ 10:32 am
Beer distributor turned state rep turned IG, what could go wrong?

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, May 23, 18 @ 10:33 am
“Oh, we see you punished… we’d like you reconsider your punishment… “

Not the best look for SBOE.

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, May 23, 18 @ 10:43 am
The Auditor General is a constitutional officer of the State of Illinois charged with reviewing the obligation, expenditure, receipt and use of public funds.

“As to the nature of the alleged violations, Cooke asserted, citing the Committee’s public reports detailing the expenditures made to Happy’s and the Bank, (1) “[a] majority of the expenses are recorded in whole dollar amounts, which strains reason to believe these expenses are for actual services rendered”; (2) “[a]n invoice almost never rounds to whole numbers, especially when repairs and fuel expenses are paid”; (3) “[i]t is apparent the [B]ank could not be providing the services for which the expenses were paid”; (4) “extremely high amounts of expenses were allocated to [Happy’s], *** total[ing] over $200,000 in just over a ten year period”; (5) “[n]o reasonable person would spend this type of money on fuel and expenses in this time period, especially when normal legislative travel expenses are reimbursed from the state”;
-2-
I. BACKGROUND
A. Cooke’s Pro Se Complaint
In February 2016, Cooke, an Illinois resident, filed a pro se complaint with the
(6) “[i]dentical expenses were reported for exactly $1500 dollars for a camp vehicle repair in a short amount of time and other high amounts for this vehicle as well”; (7) “[t]he rounding of numbers for expense records leads to a legitimate question of whether actual expenses are inflated above fair market value in order compensate friends of the Committee”; (8) “[t]he expenses to the [Bank] are almost entirely whole numbers and leave to [sic] trail of the expenses once the cash had been withdrawn from the account”; and (9) “[t]he amount of expenses expended for gasoline[ ] are highly questionable due to extremely high individual amounts and rounding of numbers.” Cooke attached to his complaint copies of the public reports detailing the expenditures made to Happy’s and the Bank.”

And Speakee Madigan chose Frank Mautino as the best qualified person to be the top fiscal watchdog in the State of Illinois.

And people wonder why Illinois leads the nation in distrust of state Government.

Nothing to see here folks move along

Comment by Lucky Pierre Wednesday, May 23, 18 @ 10:56 am
Madigan said. “My expectation is that at the end of the day, after there’s been a full inquiry, and a full level of knowledge as to what happened, that Frank will be vindicated, and he’ll continue to serve as the auditor general.”

http://nprillinois.org/post/madigan-scrutinized-state-watchdog-will-be-vindicated#stream/0

Comment by Lucky Pierre Wednesday, May 23, 18 @ 10:59 am
Frank Mautino, who was nominated by state’s Legislative Audit Commission, was approved by a vote of 55-0 in the Senate and 102-10 in the House.

157-10

There *may* be a few Republicans that voted in the affirmative.

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, May 23, 18 @ 11:03 am
Hasn’t Frank hit the magic date to secure his future? Maybe it’s time to quietly pen a note, put it in an envelope and go home.

Comment by A guy Wednesday, May 23, 18 @ 11:11 am
“”A verdict from the board could mean more fines, but because the campaign committee is defunct, it’s unlikely to pay them.”"

The only practical impact is that it keeps the story alive.

Comment by walker Wednesday, May 23, 18 @ 12:05 pm
This story is just unreal. I wonder what would be happening if Mautino was one of Rauners guy.

Comment by allknowingmasterofracoondom Wednesday, May 23, 18 @ 12:35 pm
===I wonder what would be happening if Mautino was one of Rauners guy.===

Mautino was confirmed… 157-10

Mautino is “everyone’s guy”

Ugh.

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, May 23, 18 @ 12:37 pm
==I wonder what would be happening if Mautino was one of Rauners guy.==

The victimhood is strong in you.

Comment by Demoralized Wednesday, May 23, 18 @ 12:50 pm
LP:

I know you’re into making up whatever narrative you need to make up but facts are sometimes a hard thing. Contrary to your all Madigan, all the time nonsense, Mautino was confirmed by the entire General Assembly. Once again you’re being dishonest.

Comment by Demoralized Wednesday, May 23, 18 @ 12:51 pm
the money-laundering allegations came after the General Assembly votes

Comment by not quite... Wednesday, May 23, 18 @ 1:45 pm
===Mautino was confirmed… 157-10

Mautino is “everyone’s guy”===

Mike Madigan, and the Republicans he controls…/s

Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Wednesday, May 23, 18 @ 1:53 pm