East Central Reporter

Champaign County State's Attorney's Office is facing scrutiny following a complaint alleging misuse of public funds. The complaint accuses the office of spending $60,000 to advocate for a tax hike referendum, which the office claims is based on an "unconstitutionally vague" statute.

Mahomet resident John Bambenek issued a statement criticizing the state's attorney for arguing that the law prohibiting such use of funds is unclear. He said, "It’s highly ironic that in a board of elections complaint alleging the misuse of public funds, the publicly funded state’s attorney using publicly funded resources is advancing an argument that state law prohibiting said use of public funds for campaign purposes is ‘unconstitutionally vague’. The prosecutor should be prosecuting alleged crimes, not providing free criminal defense arguments to the County Executive."

In its filing with the board of elections, the state's attorney's office stated: “Should this matter proceed, Respondent asserts that 10 ILCS 5/9-25.1 is unconstitutionally vague as a statute which carries potentially criminal penalties as ‘factual information’ is not defined and anyone could argue that factual information constitutes information offered for personal persuasion or advocacy rather than for information and education.”

Bambenek further argued, “This line of argument shows that even the State’s Attorney’s office knows I am right; they got caught misusing public funds in an attempt to sway the vote of a referendum on the ballot. They know this road could end with a special prosecutor and potential criminal liabilities."

The case number 24CD014 has been filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections. A closed preliminary hearing will occur tomorrow before moving to open hearings.

The contested law states no public funds should be used to urge voting for or against any candidate or proposition but allows dissemination of factual information regarding propositions on election ballots.