Prairie State Wire

The Illinois Supreme Court has recently heard the oral argument on Auditor General and former state Rep. Frank Mautino’s case, alleging him of violating state election code, filed by David W. Cooke, a Streator resident.

Specifically, Cooked accused Mautino “of not properly documenting campaign expenses over a 17-year period, part of the time that Mautino was a state representative in this area.” WCMY 1430 reported.

In a report from Peoria Standard, “Fuel and repair payments to Happy’s Super Service Station in Spring Valley totaled more than $200,000 during Mautino’s legislative service from 2005-15.”

Koshko of WCMY also reported that Cooke’s legal representatives said that “the Committee for Frank J. Mautino didn’t own vehicles and shouldn’t have been allowed to claim expenses for vehicle repairs and maintenance. It says people driving for the campaign should have been reimbursed for mileage instead.”

The oral argument for Case No. 125386, David W. Cooke, Appellee, v. The Illinois State Board of Elections et al., etc., Intervenor-Appellants (Committee for Frank J. Mautino, Appellant), was presented by Adam R. Vaught.

In approximately less than 20 minutes, Vaught argued that “the committed did violate the election code by “interpreting the election code very narrowly in the way that it would be very difficult for the committees to follow the analysis as adopted by this court and by substituting its own factual interpretations for that of the state’s board and it was contrary to the standard of review.”