Mautino Still Illinois’ Auditor General?!?
This story encapsulates everything wrong with Illinois. Nepotism, big money in campaigns, protected politicians, Madigan’s machine, ethic violations, a shallow media, meaningless laws, and zero accountability.
In 2016 Frank Mautino was voted on by his peers in the Illinois House and Senate to become the Auditor General. According to the website, the Auditor General’s office, “is the premier office that ensures state agencies are accountable to the people through their elected representatives. The Auditor General duties include performing financial and compliance audits including compliance with federal statutes.”
Let’s be clear, Frank Mautino is wholly unqualified to hold the position of Auditor General. He got the job as a gift for being a loyal soldier for Mike Madigan. A state representative for 24 years, Mautino was appointed to that position after his father died while in that office. Prior to holding the position of state representative, Mautino helped in the family distribution business. He has no education in finance, accounting, government, law, or any other area that would give him credibility to hold the position of Auditor General, a position commonly referred to as the State’s “Watchdog.” The office is required to audit and investigate other government agencies for proper use of money and adherence to our laws.
Regardless of his lack of qualifications, all but 10 House Republicans voted to make Frank Mautino Auditor General and he took office on January 1, 2016. Not long after taking office, a tip that Mautino had very questionable campaign expenditures led to a massive investigation by the Edgar County Watchdogs into his campaign finance records. Their investigation is detailed in a series of articles. Read these reports here, here, here, and here. Here is a sample of what the ECWD discovered and wrote about.
Mautino spent $213,338.31 on fuel and repairs for his campaign vehicle between March of 2005 and December 2015. Even more if you go back a few more years. His campaign itemized expenditure reporting indicates $20,914.20 of the $213 thousand was used specifically for gas purchases during that same time frame, all at the same gas station, Happy’s Super Service Station.
Using the very figures from his itemized expenditures covering ten years and nine months, Mautino’s expenditures average approximately $54.42 of campaign money every dayduring that time frame for gas and repairs to his campaign vehicle.
Think about that for a minute!
$54.42 every day of the week, every week of the month, every month of the year, for Ten years and nine months!
Is there ANYONE in this state that spends $54.42 a day on fuel and repairs, every day of the year for over 10 years? How many brand new vehicles could be purchased with that kind of money that have a full warranty, which means no repair costs?
There are numerous other problems with Mautino’s finances. The violations are obvious by anyone who has ever ran a campaign or filled out the finance reports. Eventually, federal and state investigations were initiated to look into Mautino’s campaign accounts.
When it came time for now Auditor General Mautino to answer questions from authorities, instead of being forthright, he plead 5th Amendment protection against seif-incrimination. In the end, both the Appellate and Supreme Court did find that Mautino’s campaign committee violated state law.
In addition to state and federal investigations, a formal complaint was filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections about Mautino’s campaign “irregularities.” Just this week that complaint was dismissed after six years. Here is what the Edgar County Watchdogs said about it.
Almost 6 years later, even after the Illinois Supreme Court confirmed Mautino’s campaign violated the state election law, the State Board of Elections voted unanimously to dismiss the complaint. The reason is beyond shocking and another example as to why Illinois is arguably the most corrupt state in the country.
Mautino’s attorney successfully argued that Mautino’s campaign committee didn’t “knowingly”, violate the law.
That’s right folks. The Auditor General, Illinois’ Watchdog, who is in charge of assuring the rules are followed and money is accounted for didn’t know the rules.
Even before this most recent ruling, as soon as stories began to surface about Mautino’s campaign finance shenanigans, Republican state representatives called for Mautino to resign. Resolutions filed in 2016 and in subsequent years went nowhere in the Democrat controlled legislature.
Of further note, the Auditor General position came with a huge salary and pension boost for Mautino. Then State Representative Jeanne Ives wrote about the issue in an article for Illinois Review stating,
State records show Mautino, who has also served 24 years as a state representative, stood to receive a starting pension of over $74,000 which is 85% of his final salary of more than $87,000. After just one year at the higher Auditor General salary, Mautino will receive 85% of his $157,000 salary, a starting pension over $133,000. That pension will compound at 3% annually for the rest of his life upon retirement.
This story is emblematic of Illinois’ problems: corruption, incompetence, and instead of accountability, massive payouts to those who should otherwise have been fired a long time ago.
NPR has the story on about the Court’s finding at this link.
Illinois Policy Institute has the story of the dismissal of charges by ISBE at this link.
Illinois Households Owe $110,000 Each For State’s $530 Billion Pension Debt
Governor Pritzker has long been boasting about pension buyouts but forever refuses to provide any support or analysis showing that buyouts would have any meaningful effect. In reality, he has done nothing significant whatsoever to fix pensions and it is particularly dishonest to cite pension buyouts as an example of progress.
Something that actually would make difference would be to pass the bill that calls for a constitutional amendment to Illinois’ pension protection clause. But of course, Pritzker opposes that.
A problem this large is no laughing matter and deserves some honest answers.
Read more about this mess here.
REALITY CHECK
Gov. Pritzker can’t take credit for Illinois’ improved budget projections when it’s the feds that bailed the state out.
APROPOS
Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Gov. J.B. Pritzker were among 200 guests invited to President Biden’s Monday White House large signing ceremony for the $1 trillion infrastructure bill (not to be confused with the “Build Back Better” (BBB), an additional $1.75 trillion legislative proposal currently stalled in Congress.)
No Republicans will vote for the BBB measure because it contains major Biden agenda items — climate change, expansion of health care, child care and immigration with provisions Republicans find objectionable to too expensive. There is also disagreement among moderate and progressive Democrats over the BBB legislation.
Illinois Democrat Reps. Marie Newman, Bobby Rush and Cheri Bustos were also among those attending the White House signing.
From Heroes To Zeroes
Health care workers all across the country who are not taking a COVID-19 vaccine mandated by hospitals and the Biden-Harris administration are being fired.
Here are just a few examples of medical, religious and ethical objections that are being denied:
- Thomas Redwood was terminated by Piedmont and Wellstar for not taking the vaccine based on his careful risk-benefit analysis.
- Eric Suanders, a veteran physician, was fired from Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, New Jersey. Born without legs due to a pharmaceutical his mother took while pregnant, he has psychological trauma of being injured by a pharmaceutical and knows the potential controversy behind the science of the COVID vaccines.
- Nicole Fanelli was fired after working for Crozer Health in Pennsylvania for almost 21 years as a mammography technologist. Her submission for Religious Exemption (she is Catholic) was denied, even with a letter from her priest, because her ‘religion as a whole is not against vaccination’.
Unconstitutional laws are not laws.
Read their appalling stories and more here.
SCARY STUFF
By redefining what certain words and terms mean, the rising biosecurity state is attempting to change your perception of what’s true and what is false. In the process, they’re perverting science into something ruled by faith, speculation and biased opinion. The dangers of that are incalculable.
Here’s what they’re up to:
- Major health organizations across the world have changed several definitions of medical terms, including the definitions for “vaccine,” “herd immunity” and “pandemic,” which in turn have a significant impact on everyday life. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now considering changing the definition of “fully vaccinated”
- Israel and Australia have already pushed back the goal post. Citizens must get a booster at six months after their second jab or lose all “passport freedoms.” Australian premier Daniel Andrews has actually stated that, going forward, life for the vaccinated will “be about the maintenance of your vaccination status”. Australia is confiscating people’s bank accounts and canceling their driver’s licenses to recover COVID fines
- Updating the definition of “fully vaccinated” will also have the side effect of skewing mortality statistics, giving government another round of ammunition for false claims. We’ve been repeatedly told that we’re now in a pandemic of the unvaccinated, and this lie will gain new traction once fully vaccinated people are dropped into the unvaccinated category, six months after their last dose
- The National Basketball Association is urging players who got a single-dose Janssen shot as recently as two months ago to get a Pfizer or Moderna booster, or face game-day testing starting December 1, 2021. Players who completed a two-dose regimen are being told to get a booster at the six-month mark
- The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is already talking about expanding its COVID-19 vaccine rule, so that small businesses with fewer than 100 employees may also be required to force the jab on their employees or face stiff fines. The public comment period closes December 6, 2021
In response, here are some tweets from the sports world:
“Wake up, sheep. The NBA is already mandating the vaccine booster now. This won’t ever end, we [are] going to make 100% healthy people get COVID shots every six months for the rest of their lives?” – Sports commentator Clay Travis
“On what planet do we continue to mandate drugs for people who are not sick? Say NO.” – Inner Sports founder Garret Kramer
“This world and league is getting more asinine by the day.” – Golf champion Steve Flesch
Bad News For Biden
An appeals court dominated by Republican-nominated judges was chosen at random Tuesday to deal with the flurry of lawsuits against the Biden administration’s private business COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit was the winner of a lottery that was triggered by multiple appeals courts receiving challenges to the mandate.
Buckle Your Seatbelts!
If You Can Afford To
We Are Here To Serve You!
As a state representative, my office is available to assist you with any issues you may have when interacting with a state agency. Whether you need help with unemployment claims, getting a FOID card, renewing your drivers license or resolving a tax problem, we are here to serve you.
Oftentimes, some of the best legislation comes from people who see where the law is unworkable or simply unfair.
If you have ideas on how the state of Illinois could improve, let’s sit down and discuss if a legislative fix is needed.
Please call our office at 217.876.1968 to get help or schedule an appointment to see me. The office is located at 715 W Imboden Dr, Decatur.
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