October 6, 2016
CHICAGO – An Illinois citizen who is taking action against the state’s auditor general in what he alleges is a violation of campaign disclosure laws has gained support from the Liberty Justice Center.
The group is providing representation for David Cooke of Streator in a fight against Auditor General Frank Mautino for his time as a state representative over alleged misappropriation of funds.
Jacob Huebert, senior attorney at Liberty Justice Center, told the Record that it is helping Cooke because someone “had to.”
“The Illinois State Board of Elections told Cooke that, if he wants to pursue his charges against Frank Mautino, he has to prosecute the case himself,” Huebert said. “Cooke isn’t a lawyer, so we are stepping in to help him.”
More specifically, the Liberty Justice Center is supporting Cooke to expose Illinois residents to truths about campaign spending.
“It’s important that somebody pursues this case because Illinoisans should know if their auditor general — the state official charged with making sure the state’s money is spent legally — has been spending his own campaign funds illegally,” Huebert said.
According to Cooke, Mautino violated the Illinois Campaign Disclosure Act by making alleged payments that totaled more than $200,000 to Happy’s Super Service over a 10-year period through his campaign committee. Cooke alleges these payments could in no way be for fuel and vehicle repairs. Cooke also alleges that thousands of dollars were misspent by Mautino to Spring Valley City Bank for inexplicable expenditures that the committee made directly.
