(The Chicago Tribune)—An Illinois State Board of Elections hearing officer is expected to issue a recommendation next month regarding allegations that Auditor General Frank Mautino violated campaign finance disclosure laws during his time as a Democratic state representative.
On Thursday, hours of testimony were heard on the issue of whether Mautino’s now-defunct campaign committee must update spending reports to provide additional details about how money was spent.
The probe comes after a Downstate group known as the Edgar County Watchdogs raised questions about why the fund reported spending more than $247,000 on fuel and car repairs over 16 years, and has since expanded to include a look at $30,000 worth of expenditures to a local bank. The federal government also has launched an investigation, marking a stark turn of events for Mautino, who received overwhelming bipartisan support when lawmakers appointed him to a 10-year term in 2015 as the state’s chief financial watchdog.
Much of the hearing focused on a deposition given earlier by Patricia Maunu, the former treasurer for Mautino’s campaign committee. Jeffrey Schwab, an attorney for the Liberty Justice Center, which is affiliated with the conservative Illinois Policy Institute, cited Maunu’s testimony in which she said the campaign had a credit account at Happy’s Super Service & Food Mart in Spring Valley, where Mautino, campaign workers and some family members frequently stopped for gas.
Schwab also took issue with how the campaign listed expenditures at Spring Valley City Bank. According to Maunu’s testimony, she would write checks for the bank to cash, and that money was later used to pay for other items. Maunu said that sometimes Mautino and others would provide receipts showing what that cash was used for, but other times it was spent without a proof of purchase.
Schwab contended that practice did not account for where the money ultimately was spent, saying it wasn’t the bank that should be listed for the expenditure but the vendor who received the campaign funds.
Sergio Acosta, lead attorney for Mautino’s committee, said Maunu was acting as she interpreted the law. Acosta said Maunu routinely filed reports that listed bulk payments to vendors, such as monthly invoices from Happy’s for gas and car repairs. The attorney added that the treasurer recorded the checks cashed at the bank believing they were the vendor based on information from the state elections agency.
Acosta said the law on disclosure was murky, going so far as to note payments for car repairs for Rep. Grant Wehrli, R-Naperville, and reimbursements made by Rep. Jeanne Ives, R-Wheaton. The Republicans are among Mautino’s fiercest critics, and have called for Mautino to step down while state officials and federal prosecutors look into his spending.
Both lawmakers attended the hearing and said their expenses were brought up to distract from the question of whether Mautino spent campaign funds for personal costs.
“All it is, is a feeble attempt to silence critics of Frank Mautino. It’s not unexpected in this type of proceeding,” said Wehrli, who added that the auto expenses cited in the hearing were “in the course of my doing my governmental job.”
Ives said it was important for Mautino to answer questions given his position as the state’s top oversight official. Mautino declined to give a deposition in the state finance probe.
“He is our top watchdog, and his campaign accounts are a disaster,” Ives said. “Everything that you heard today in testimony is completely outside of the norm in terms of believability that these are actual campaign expenses, other than personal use.”
Schwab objected to the Wehrli and Ives expenses being brought up, but hearing examiner Phil Krasny said they will be only a minimal factor in his final recommendation. Schwab said Mautino’s campaign should have sought legal advice regarding unclear state laws.
The two sides will now submit written arguments before Krasny makes his recommendation to the elections board, which can decide if a complaint has merit and whether the campaign should file updated reports.
But Acosta said Mautino’s campaign committee no longer exists since he was named auditor general. Acosta also said Maunu, the treasurer, was instructed to keep only the committee’s final two years of records and that previous years’ documents don’t exist.
Jim Tenuto, assistant executive director of the elections board, said the panel cannot impose fines in the case if it finds the Mautino committee acted improperly. “This is more about seeking compliance,” he said.
The hearing officer’s recommendation could be considered at the board’s May 15 meeting.
