Illinois Valley Times

Auditor General Frank Mautino is not a popular guy in the public eye, considering that he was confirmed to assume his 10-year post by an overwhelming majority of Assembly legislators a year ago.

For some, it began going downhill when Jerry Long called for Frank Mautino to resign this year. Prior to being appointed as Auditor General, Mautino served as a state representative from District 76, the state House seat Long is running for as a Republican. However, previous campaign-spending discrepancies surfaced after Mautino's appointment, sparking state and federal probes into questionable campaign spending.

"Mautino’s campaign expenditures are highly suspect, and [House Speaker] Michael Madigan’s Chicago Machine has manufactured nothing but scandal and embarrassment for the state of Illinois,” Long said.

Perhaps original credit belongs to a civilian constituent who noticed disquieting oddities in Mautino’s records long before they caught the public’s attention and proceeded to make his observations very public.

Streator resident and one-time school board member David Cooke was the first constituent — and for a short while, the only one — to file a formal complaint, commenting at one point early on that he felt his was the sole dissenting voice and that he wanted answers.

"I get fed up driving to Chicago, and all the resources to keep it all going, that's coming from me," Cooke said, expressing frustration with his perceived status as lone whistleblower and complaining that he was paying out-of-pocket for expenses incurred.

Cooke said he has been the sole catalyst for justice.

"What happens if I stop doing this?" Cooke said last summer. "What happens if I just walk away? Well, I know what will happen. It will all go away, and nothing will be done about it."

Cooke's persistence and exasperation eventually paid off. Following Cooke’s initiative, Mautino hired attorneys and went silent in the media.

Presently, some lawmakers, including state Reps. Dwight Kay (R-Glen Carbon) and Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton) have jumped into the investigative fray, with Ives being one of 10 GOP lawmakers in the House who voted against Mautino’s appointment last year.

Soon afterward, the Edgar County Watchdogs public-accountability group also got on board.

In May, the Illinois State Board of Elections officially found Cooke’s formal grievance valid and mandated that Mautino release more information. However, Mautino refused, with his counsel asking for a stay, citing a Fifth Amendment rights conflict tied to a simultaneous federal investigation.

Ignoring calls to resign, Mautino subsequently was subjected to House Joint Resolution 158, co-sponsored by no fewer than 17 legislators and filed by a caucus of 20 Republican legislators, asking him to step down in mid-July.

By now, it had become public knowledge that Mautino’s records show he spent a approximately $200,000 at an auto service station — Happy’s Super Service in Spring Valley — over the course of a decade. In addition, payments totaling approximately $259,000  were made for years to Spring Valley City Bank — dating to 1999.

Cooke is supporting Long over Democratic state Rep. Andy Skoog, stating that “Skoog is Mautino’s handpicked successor.”

If media response is any indication, it is somehow entirely possible that the whole thing will go away, one reporter said.

A commentator by the name of Ulysses Arn, who writes and edits the online US of ARN news site and bills himself as Northern Illinois’ leading citizen journalist, succinctly observed last month that “the fine art of Illinois political corruption” is still in full force, calling Mautino’s bravado “sickening.”

“(Mautino could walk) away from his troubles scot-free, thanks to the indifference of the state's mainstream media, the lack of interest on the part of Republican leadership, the enormous clout and power held by Speaker of the House Michael Madigan, and the handicapping of a state agency or two," Arn said.

Arn said that when Springfield’s Illinois Times examined Mautino's records, it found that Mautino accepted substantial donations after his approaching appointment was known publicly, but insisted the cash was to pay campaign debts.

Arn suggested that the media chose to downplay the whole scenario, much to his disappointment.

"Aside from running wire-service stories … virtually no Illinois-based newspaper or TV station has covered Frank Mautino’s scandal at all, let alone in any detail," Arn wrote in a  blog post. "Unless you read the Illinois Times, Ottawa Times … the Edgar County Watchdogs blog or mine, you wouldn’t know the state of Illinois has an auditor general, let alone one that is mired in scandal, or tied to the hip to Michael Madigan.

"There is corruption, and then there is Illinois corruption," Arn said.