State Sen. Laura Murphy, D-Des Plaines, says that auditor general Frank Mautino should leave office due to a pending federal investigation into his campaign spending while a member of the General Assembly.
“I am concerned that your honor is being called into question and that the investigation could cast doubt on the integrity of your office,” Murphy wrote in a Wednesday letter to Mautino asking the auditor general to take a leave of absence.
Ryan Keith, Mautino spokesman, said that the auditor general had no comment.
Murphy is the first Democratic lawmaker to publicly call on Mautino to relinquish his duties. Last month, 20 Republican legislators wrote a letter to Mautino demanding that he explain campaign spending that included more than $200,000 spent at a single Spring Valley service station in the span of 11 years, much of it in round figures. In disclosure reports, Mautino, then a Democratic state representative, said that the money was spent on vehicle repairs and gas. Questions have also arisen about tens of thousands of dollars that Mautino reported giving to a Spring Valley bank for travel expenses, parking, poll watchers and other things that have nothing to do with banking.
Murphy stopped short of saying that the auditor general, who was sworn in last December, should resign. Rather, Murphy wrote, Mautino should take a leave of absence until the federal criminal probe, first reported by Illinois Times, is complete.
“I believe a leave of absence would be in the best interest of state government and the taxpayers of Illinois,” Murphy wrote. “Once the probe is complete and only after the cloud over your office has lifted would it be appropriate for you to return to work as auditor general.”
In addition to a criminal investigation by the U.S. attorney’s office in Springfield, Mautino is facing an inquiry by the Illinois State Board of Elections, which has given him until July 1 to file amended disclosure reports to answer questions about his campaign spending.
On Thursday, 21 GOP lawmakers echoed Murphy, signing a letter to the auditor general demanding that he take an unpaid leave of absence. It was the fourth letter since February that Republican lawmakers have sent to Mautino over his campaign spending. Previous letters have demanded documents and details on questionable spending; the latest missive asks that Mautino step aside.
“(T)here is no practical way you can competently govern and administer the auditor general’s office, while simultaneously defending yourself against federal criminal charges, a state election board investigation and whatever other legal problems you may face going forward,” lawmakers wrote. “Illinoisans deserve clean government. They deserve audits they can trust. With an auditor general now laboring under the weight of state and federal investigations, they have no guarantee of either.”
Murphy says that she was unaware of the GOP letter sent one day after she called on Mautino to take a leave. Appointed to the Senate last year, Murphy last fall voted in favor of Mautino’s appointment to the auditor general’s post. She says now that she would not have voted for Mautino if she’d known then what she knows now.
“I believe that was one of my first votes,” Murphy said. “I inquired and found out that he was very well thought of, ethical, skilled and wise. Everybody said wonderful things about him, both Democrats and Republicans.”
There were just 10 dissenting votes when lawmakers appointed Mautino to the position.
“I never would have voted for him if there was any kind of cloud,” Murphy said. “The auditor general’s position has to be beyond reproach, beyond even a thought of impropriety.”
Steve Brown, spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, who pushed for Mautino’s appointment, last month labled GOP calls for explanations as a partisan political move. That was before Illinois Times reported that Mautino was under criminal investigation by the U.S. attorney. Brown could not be immediately reached.
Murphy said that news of the federal investigation makes it tougher for Mautino supporters to accuse critics of playing politics.
“I think it removes it as a partisan matter when a federal investigation comes in,” Murphy said.
The senator also said she doesn’t believe that Mautino should become an issue in upcoming fall elections.
“I don’t think it should be an electoral issue,” Murphy said. “I think the auditor general should take care of the issue now so it doesn’t become one.”
Contact Bruce Rushton at brushton@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in Jun 2-8, 2016.
