Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton) contends that the 17-count felony indictment against Brian Towne might be just the tip of the iceberg in terms of how deep corruption ran in his office while he was LaSalle County's state's attorney.
“This story isn’t finished,” she told the Illinois Valley Times. “When he was caught violating the law, he had the law changed to cover his tracks. Now we may have to reverse some laws he had put on the books. I’m hoping the next person to be indicted is Frank Mautino. I think there’s a reason he took the fifth.”
Mautino is the Illinois auditor general. His former legislative campaign was fined $5,000 this spring after refusing to provide information in an investigation into gas and car repair payments.
Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton)
The Chicago Tribune reported that the charges against Towne range from having his staff conduct political activity during office hours to paying off personal expenses with money generated through a controversial asset forfeiture program.
That program, the State’s Attorney’s Felony Enforcement unit (SAFE), created in 2011, enlisted special investigators the Institute for Justice has reported were sworn in by Towne to conduct stops and searches of vehicles on Interstate 80 suspected of being involved in drug deals.
In 2012, the unit, which seized cars, cash and other valuables even in cases in which no criminal charges were filed, came under increased scrutiny. The issue of Towne solely overseeing operations was one of the biggest criticisms, ultimately leading to legal challenges. The Edgar County Watchdogs reported that Mautino, then a state representative, reacted by co-sponsoring a bill that would have allowed Towne's office to contract for such staffers as a way of providing investigative services.
Passage of the bill would have paved the way for Towne to justify all questionable hires by reasoning the law allowed for such contracted staff additions, which the Institute for Justice reports were paid for with money recovered from forfeiture searches.
“Here you have this guy who is supposed to be Mr. Law and Order – someone who’s supposed to cultivate law – and when he’s about to lose an election he changes the law,” Ives said. “He was running a rogue operation, and I’m thrilled the feds stepped in to stop it and indict him.”
SAFE become a hot-button issue during Townes’ failed 2016 re-election bid against Karen Donnelly, during which time she blasted him as being motivated by greed and vowed that she would disband SAFE.
“It’s taken years to get anything done on this, but I’m glad we’re finally at this point,” Ives said. “It’s too bad the sitting attorney general didn’t get involved earlier, but she couldn’t find public corruption no matter what it looked like.”
Towne, who was hired by the appellate prosecutor's office following his loss to Donnelly, has dismissed the charges levied against him as "a vindictive abuse of power"
Since news of his indictment became public, he has been placed on administrative duties as the case winds its way through the legal system.
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