Illinois Auditor General Frank Mautino has been named in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, which was filed Tuesday in the Fifth Judicial Circuit Court, Edgar County.
The lawsuit, filed by Kirk Allen, cofounder of the Edgar County Watchdogs, claims the Office of the Auditor General and Mautino failed to comply with certain requirements of the FOIA by not submitting certain records that were subject to Allen’s FOIA request.
On Feb. 9, Allen allegedly sent a FOIA request to Mautino’s office, seeking copies of public records that include any communication received and responded to within the past 30 days pertaining to Mautino’s campaign records.
Mautino’s office responded via email, indicating that the records had been mailed because they were too large to email, according to the lawsuit.
Allen received the documents in the mail on Feb. 12, but he claims in his complaint that many of the records had nothing to do with the requested information, and approximately 60 emails appeared to have been redacted of any content, with only the header information available, according to the complaint.
On Feb. 14, Allen served Mautino’s office with a second FOIA request, seeking copies of any communication received and responded to specifically between Feb. 10 and Feb. 15.
Allen claims the documents he received subsequent to his second request did not contain all of the information requested.
He is suing Mautino and his office for withholding access to non-exempt public records and for acting “in bad faith in failing to properly deny and in failing to provide responsive documents to plaintiff’s FOIA requests”; and is seeking a civil penalty of “not less than $2,500 and no more than $5,000 for each occurrence.”
Mautino has been under heavy scrutiny since January, when his disclosure reports revealed extravagant spending during his tenure as House representative -- to the tune of more than $200,000 -- on gas and vehicle repairs over the span of 11 years to Happy’s Super Service in Spring Valley, Mautino’s hometown.
Edgar County Watchdogs quantified the amount as $213,338.31. Irregularities in payments to Spring Valley City Bank have also raised eyebrows.
Other questionable expenses in Mautino’s reporting include an additional $30,000 in state travel reimbursements for legislative duties and service on audit commissions since 2005, paid by taxpayers' money; $271,417 in state agency payments to family-owned Mautino Distribution Company since 2005, with increased annual payments occurring after Mautino’s promotion into Madigan’s House Majority leadership team in 2009; $33,000 paid to his wife’s family’s pizza restaurant since 1999; and $273,973 paid to a local bank from his campaign fund.
Mautino has said very little about the controversy.
Earlier this month, Republicans in the Illinois General Assembly tried once again to get answers from Mautino after sending two previous letters, demanding answers regarding his campaign spending.
“It has been 100 days since some of these stories broke about his campaign spending, and we have sent two previous letters that were answered with a request for more time,” State Rep. Grant Wehrli (R-Naperville) said during a press conference on May 6. “His second letter did request a few additional weeks -- that is now 10 weeks ago. The time is now for Auditor General Mautino to step forward and explain his questionable campaign expense and accounting practices under his now-closed accounts.”
Edgar County Watchdogs stated on its website that all of the lawmakers the watchdog group has spoken to about Mautino have said he should resign because “he has brought embarrassment and distrust to the Office of Auditor General.”
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