Daily Herald opinion: An incomplete decision: Attorney general ends probe of DuPage clerk without resolving governance dispute
The Illinois attorney general’s office recently confirmed that it won’t pursue criminal charges in connection with no-bid contracts awarded by the DuPage County clerk’s office.
Unfortunately, the outcome of the investigation didn’t settle the long-running dispute about billing procedures in DuPage that prompted the roughly nine-month probe.
County Clerk Jean Kaczmarek has argued for years that the DuPage County Board cannot dictate how bills from her office are processed and paid. The Glen Ellyn Democrat insists that she and other elected officials have internal control over their offices. DuPage board members insist the county can require its countywide elected officials and department heads to adhere to basic accounting procedures and state laws regarding bidding.
The ongoing feud led to a court battle and a November vote by the county board to censure Kaczmarek. She is appealing two court rulings, both of which favored the county.
It was in that environment that DuPage County state’s attorney’s office last July sought the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate bidding practices in the clerk’s office. Prosecutors argued that Kaczmarek’s failure to give the county auditor documentation that was requested regarding two election-related vendors may constitute official misconduct.
A judge assigned the investigation to the Illinois attorney general’s office, and on April 20, Annie Thompson, a spokeswoman for the Illinois attorney general’s office, confirmed that the investigation was completed.
“We carefully reviewed the serious allegations related to no-bid contracts,” Thompson wrote in a statement, “and while the conduct certainly violated the spirit of the bidding statutes, our office determined that the facts did not meet the standard necessary to support a criminal prosecution.”
However, the statement didn’t address several issues, including whether Kaczmarek is correct when she claims that multiple opinions issued by the Illinois attorney general’s office support her views. By not settling the controversy, the attorney general left open the possibility that a future department head will resurrect the same arguments and allow a return to the same kind of stalemated government DuPage has had under Kaczmarek.
In a statement, DuPage County Chair Deborah Conroy said that while Kaczmarek’s actions did not meet the burden for a criminal prosecution, the attorney general “clearly agrees the County Clerk violated the intent of the state’s bidding statutes.”
“I will continue to pursue transparent, taxpayer-friendly practices as Chair of the DuPage County Board,” Conroy said.
Indeed, transparency and protecting the taxpayers should be the top priority for every countywide elected official. It is our hope that Kaczmarek, who lost her bid for reelection during the Democratic primary, reaches the same conclusion before she leaves office at the end of November. She should stop bickering with county board members so they all can work together and prepare for an important election in the fall.