Decision Monday on Barrington Hills ethics complaint

The State Board of Elections is expected to decide Monday on how to proceed with a complaint alleging violation of new campaign disclosure laws by a slate of Barrington Hills trustee candidates and a financial backer.

A closed hearing was held Friday before a hearing officer who will submit a recommendation to the state board.

The hearing was intended to determine if there was probable cause to proceed with public hearings on the complaint against the “Save 5 Acres” candidates — incumbent Joseph Messer, current Village Clerk Karen Selman and Patty Meroni — and resident Benjamin B. LeCompte III.

The Save 5 Acres slate has been endorsed by Barrington Hills Village President Robert Abboud, while the complaint against it was filed by former trustee George Schueppert who once unsuccessfully challenged Abboud for his office.

The basis of the complaint is an affidavit in which Barrington Hills Zoning Board of Appeals Chairman Jonathan Knight describes a telephone conversation between himself and John Rosene, a campaign worker for Save 5 Acres.

According to the affidavit, Rosene told Knight that LeCompte had donated $5,000 each to Messer, Selman and Meroni.

In the affidavit, Knight states that he found individual $5,000 donations to the Save 5 Acres committee from Messer, Selman and Meroni listed on the State Board of Elections website, but no mention of LeCompte’s contribution.

Attorney Richard K. Means, who is representing Schueppert, said the situation described in the affidavit represents violations by both LeCompte and the candidates.

New campaign contribution laws that took effect Jan. 1 would limit LeCompte to making a single $5,000 contribution to the entire campaign committee, Means said. And if the candidates did not disclose the money as contributions from LeCompte, it would represent a violation on their part as well, he added.

The candidates created new, individual campaign committees hours before Friday’s hearing and identified LeCompte as a contributor, Means said. But he considers this effort to correct the violation to be too late.

“This is like closing the barn door after the horse has gone,” Means said. “If we had not filed the complaint, no one would ever have known what had happened.”

Messer said that LeCompte didn’t want to contribute to the Save 5 Acres committee but to the individual candidates and in retrospect the candidates themselves should have filed forms naming him as the original source of the money.

He said he regretted what he described as an oversight and ignorance of election law, but wished Knight had chosen another way to correct it than a complaint to the State Board of Elections.

“Is it necessary to attack people in this manner?” Messer asked.

“That may be (Messer’s) opinion, but if I did so, I would be at risk of liability for any advice I gave,” Knight said. “I’m not an election lawyer. It’s up to me to let the election board know.”

Knight, who is backing independent candidate David Stieper in the trustee race, denied any political motivation for his actions.

Also seeking the three 4-year seats on the board are Common Sense Party candidates Diane “Dede” Wamberg, Steve D’Amore and incumbent Beth Mallen. Harold “Skip” Gianopulos, another member of the Common Sense Party, faces no opposition for the single 2-year term on the board.

LeCompte and Rosene could not be reached for comment Friday.