Dupage Policy Journal

Auditor General Frank Mautino needs to be fired by the same people who hired him, Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton) told the House of Representatives.

“Make no mistake about this: Our auditor general should be removed from by this body,” Ives said. “This body put him into the office and only can this body, with the Senate, take him out of office, and it is our duty to do so at this point.”

Ives demanded the passage of House Joint Resolution, which calls for Mautino's ouster following controversies regarding discrepancies in his campaign spending. 

Mautino has been under fire since 2016 for reportedly spending more than $247,000 of his campaign funds on fuel and car repairs over 16 years. Earlier last week, Philip Krasny, a State Board of Elections (SBE) hearing examiner concluded that Mautino had willfully violated the SBE’s order to provide additional information on spending in 2014 and 2015. 

“Specifically, [Mautino] willfully violated the board’s May 18, 2016, order vis-à-vis failing to amend disclosure reports filed in 2014 and 2015 to one, reflect an accurate breakdown between gas and repair made to his account; two, identify the actual recipients of itemized expenditures; and three, identify the specific purpose for the expenditures,” Ives said.

Krasny recommended fining Mautino, but Ives wants a more severe course of action, saying that since he took office last January, Mautino has failed to cooperate with the SBE’s investigation, violated Freedom of Information Act statutes, failed to answer questions from the General Assembly, failed to sit for a deposition for fear that he might self-incriminate, and is currently under federal investigation.

“Mr. Mautino, as the auditor general, actually has the responsibility to audit the State Board of Elections that just found him willfully in noncompliance with their order,” Ives said. “You can’t get more cynical than to sit here and not allow this resolution to be heard in committee and put up for a vote on the House floor. That is the resolution that we should be talking about. That is the action we should be taking right now.”   

Ives said it is the responsibility of the House to remove Mautino.

“We have the power to take him out of office,” she said. “We can find somebody else better qualified, and we should do it immediately.”