Ethics accusation in Geneva mayor race goes to court

Geneva mayoral candidate Tom Simonian is going to court to try to get the Geneva Ethics Commission to reopen a case he brought March 13 against a Geneva firefighter and Mayor Kevin Burns, accusing the firefighter of doing campaign work for Burns using city time and resources.

Simonian's lawyers filed a complaint for administrative review Wednesday in Kane County Circuit Court.

The case has been assigned a July 6 date before Judge David Akemann.

Burns declined to comment Wednesday.

In the complaint, Simonian alleges:

• Commission Chairman Timothy Moran's appointment to the commission had expired at the time of the complaint.

• All three commissioners should have recused themselves because there is a good chance they already had decided who they would vote for in the April 4 election and because some had indicated support for a candidate by placing signs in their yards.

• The commission didn't consider his motion to get the city to turn over documents and other records from the city, Burns and Deputy Fire Chief Mark Einwich.

• The commission did not investigate Simonian's allegations.

• The commission did not consider his motion to continue the hearing a week.

Simonian says a Geneva resident sent him a Facebook private message March 8 saying she saw a Geneva firefighter driving a fire department SUV and dropping off campaign signs at Burns' home.

Simonian filed his complaint, including a notarized statement from the woman, with the city on March 13. The commission met March 16.

Einwich testified that a Burns' campaign sign had become "lodged" under the tires of a fire department SUV he was driving in a convenience-store parking lot.

Burns testified that he received a text on his cellphone from a number he did not recognize asking what should be done with the sign. He replied the person should bring it to Burns' home.

The commission ruled that Einwich had not intentionally violated the city's ethics law.

If he had, he could have been punished by a sentence of up to 364 days in jail and a fine of up to $2,500.

Among the records Simonian sought were logs of when and where Burns had visited the city's fire stations or emailed fire department employees.

He also noted in the court filing that Burns had been accused of violating the city's code in 2012, when he was running for the Republican nomination for Kane County Board chairman. A supporter of his opponent showed Burns had used city email to conduct campaign business. But nobody filed a formal complaint with the city.

Burns said campaign email was defaulting to his city email account, and that he compounded the matter by replying from that account.