SE Illinois News

State Rep. David Reis (R-Willow Hill) had plenty to say on the House floor in October 2015 about his resolution endorsing former Rep. Frank Mautino, a Democrat, for auditor general. But he has nothing to say – at least to SE Illinois News – about Mautino’s ongoing troubles in the courts over questionable expenditures by his now-defunct House campaign.

The discrepancies in campaign spending were revealed after Mautino’s appointment as auditor general. The auditor general is the state’s top fiscal watchdog.

"I am honored to put my name on the resolution and recommend Leader Mautino for the next auditor general," Reis said on the floor. "I think he brings integrity, transparency, bipartisanship and a commitment to being a very good auditor general. And I encourage everyone to support Frank's approval for this."

Rep. David Reis

Reis was the only Republican among the five House members who sponsored the joint resolution endorsing Mautino. He did not return a call from SE Illinois News seeking comment on Mautino’s failure to pay a $5,000 fine against his campaign by the Illinois State Board of Elections and ongoing court challenges brought by David Cooke, a private citizen from Streator, who is charging that the board never addressed the merits of the original complaint against the campaign; the board fined Mautino’s campaign not for the violations but for failing to comply with the board’s order to amend the expense reports. A federal probe into the campaign expenditures is also underway.

In an earlier story about Mautino’s legal troubles, Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton), Republican candidate for governor, said she was exasperated at the developments in the Mautino case and by the lack of media attention.

“It is appalling that this situation has not received more media coverage,” Ives said. “This situation also proves that our election laws need to have real consequences when people violate our laws.”

The $5,000 fine against the campaign came on the heels of an investigation by the Edgar County Watchdogs into why Mautino's fund, among other questionable actions, reported spending more than $247,000 on fuel and car repairs over 16 years.

The Edgar County Watchdogs also filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against Mautino. In November, Mautino’s attorney abruptly canceled a scheduled hearing in Edgar County Circuit Court where the group filed the lawsuit.

State officials expect the fine against the Mautino campaign will never be paid.

Bernadette Mathews, assistant executive director of the State Board of Elections, said that the only “teeth” in the campaign law covering unpaid fines is that the individual whose campaign committee was fined is prohibited from running for office until the fine is paid.