Statement of State Rep. Grant Wehrli on today’s State Board of Elections Vote:

“Today, the State Board of Elections voted to fine Auditor General Mautino $5,000, and then, on a four to four party line vote, decided to not forward their findings or information to the Attorney General or local States Attorneys for further investigation.  This ruling truly shows the Board to be nothing but a paper tiger…and today, it was a wet paper tiger,” said Representative Wehrli (R-Naperville).

“Through the course of this investigation it became clear that Frank Mautino walked into the Spring Valley Bank, cashed campaign checks totaling more than $69,000 over a two-year period, and walked out with cash in hand. No records were kept to account for where all of that cash went,” Wehrli stressed. “The partisan nature of this Board vote confirms that Democrats in Illinois refuse to stand up to corruption. Now is the time for Attorney General Lisa Madigan to finally take a firm stand against political corruption in Illinois and launch an investigation into this matter.”

Rep. Wehrli is the chief sponsor of House Joint Resolution 9 which would remove Auditor General Mautino from office. House Democrats have stalled the resolution in the House Rules Committee.

With the spring session clock ticking down to its final weeks, State Representative Grant Wehrli is calling for swift progress to enact a responsible, full-year state budget. Rep. Wehrli (R-Naperville) said legislators must immediately focus on two priorities: setting a realistic revenue estimate, and supporting and encouraging the ongoing comprehensive budget negotiations in the Senate.

 

Rep. Wehrli this week joined a bi-partisan group of House members sending a letter of support and letter signed by 30 Republican and Democrat Representatives reads in part:
encouragement to their Senate colleagues involved in their chamber’s ongoing budget negotiations. The

 

“We want to do what we were elected to do; govern the state. To do that we need to pass a budget. We understand a package from the Senate will be complex. Some parts may make members uncomfortable, and that’s not unusual in a negotiated deal.

 

We ask the Senators from both parties to pass the best negotiated package they can, and then we will take up their work in the House.”

To move the budget process forward in the House, Rep. Wehrli has signed-on as chief co-sponsor of three resolutions seeking to set the needed revenue estimate. House Joint Resolution 49 would set the Fiscal Year 2018 revenue estimate based on the assessment of the non-partisan Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability (COGFA). House Joint Resolution 50 would set the revenue estimate based on numbers from the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget (GOMB). And House Joint Resolution 51 would allow the General Assembly to combine both COGFA and GOMB numbers into an “inclusive estimate”.

 

“We’re down to our last three weeks of our scheduled spring session, and so far, Speaker Madigan has refused to allow the House to even complete the first step in our budget process: determining how much money we will have to spend. We must immediately adopt a realistic revenue estimate so we can then plan our spending accordingly,” Rep. Wehrli said. “We have offered three options to get the revenue estimate done, and the Speaker and his caucus still refuse to even talk about a revenue estimate. Instead, their focus remains solely on how much they want to spend.”

 

 “We need to enact a responsible budget, and we can do that in the session weeks remaining if we first adopt a revenue estimate so we agree on how much we will have to spend, and then continue to build on the hard work the Senate has done on appropriations and reforms. Another temporary, partial spending plan is not an option. Our families and communities need stability, and it’s past time for us to get the job done,” Rep. Wehrli concluded.

 

At a hearing in Chicago today before the State Board of Elections, Illinois’ embattled Auditor General Frank Mautino continued his refusal to answer questions concerning campaign expenses that have sparked criminal investigations at the Federal and State levels. State Representatives Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton) and Grant Wehrli (R-Naperville) attended this morning’s hearing, and stressed that Mautino’s decision today to “plead the Fifth Amendment” to again avoid providing answers must result in his removal from office.

“Members of the General Assembly gave Auditor General Mautino five chances last year to provide us answers to questions surrounding the state and federal investigations into his campaign finances. He refused. The State Board of Elections gave him two deadlines to produce the required information. He refused. Today, he pleaded the Fifth Amendment, again refusing to answer questions,” Rep. Wehrli said. “We cannot have someone serving as the taxpayers’ top financial watchdog who refuses over and over again to answer questions about serious, possibly criminal problems with his own finances. Auditor General Mautino must be removed from office.”

“Auditor General Mautino has had more than a year to answer questions related to the allegations against him, yet today he again refused to come clean. It is time for him to do the right thing for the people of Illinois and resign. If he won’t, then the General Assembly must act to remove him from office. We cannot afford to have the state’s top auditor continue in office under the cloud of state and federal investigations into his misconduct,” Rep. Ives said.

Representatives Wehrli is sponsoring House Joint Resolution 9 to remove Frank Mautino from the office of Auditor General. The resolution will require a three-fifths majority vote in both chambers of the General Assembly for approval.

“Unethical behavior is not a partisan issue. All elected officials in Illinois must be held to the highest standard regardless of party. If he won’t do the honorable thing and resign, then Auditor General Mautino must be removed. I will be pushing for a hearing on HJR9 when we return to Springfield next week,” Wehrli said.

If you live in or near the Ashbury subdivision, please join Sen. Connelly and me on the 18th for an update on the state budget and other crucial issues being discussed in Springfield. We want to hear what’s on your mind.

$12 billion in unpaid bills. 20 months without a full year budget in place. There are many important numbers we need to keep in mind as the budget negotiations move forward in the General Assembly.  A few weeks ago, the Governor presented his budget parameters in his annual budget address. Now the most important number the General Assembly must deal with is 60-30-1 – that’s the combination of votes needed to pass a compromise budget into law (60 House members, 30 Senators and the Governor). Read more at Positively Naperville.

On the House floor Wednesday, Rep. Wehrli called for honest House negotiation of a responsible state budget solution, and called out his colleagues on the other side of the aisle for their continued  political "game playing" with the budget process during the stalemate:

Statement of State Representative Grant Wehrli on Governor Bruce Rauner’s Wednesday Budget Address:

“The Governor’s priorities are spot-on. We need a balanced, full-year budget focused on growing our economy and protecting taxpayers. And yes, we must do some things differently to accomplish those objectives,” said Rep. Wehrli “For years, Speaker Madigan and his enablers have ignored their Constitutional obligation to pass a responsible, balanced budget. That’s why we’re in the mess we’re in.  But finally, we have some bi-partisan consensus that reforms are necessary to fix it.  We need to build on recent progress made in the Senate and move forward together.”