State elections board pulls plug on complaint over Champaign County’s use of tax dollars in referendum | News

The state election board rejected a complaint filed by a Mahomet resident who objected to Champaign County officials spending public money to publicize Tuesday’s referendum seeking a quarter-cent sales tax increase.

The unanimous decision by the eight-member State Board of Elections foreshadowed last week’s decision by the board’s hearing examiner to recommend dismissing the complaint because the board lacked “jurisdiction” to hear it.

John Bambanek’s complaint alleged that county executive Steve Summers spent public money (about $68,000 so far and counting) to persuade voters to support a sales tax increase.

The state attorney’s office rejected Bambanek’s appeal, arguing that the ads did not contain language that could be interpreted as advocacy.

State law allows public money to be used to support “purely informational” advertising. As long as the advertisement does not urge voters to vote for or against a measure, the measure is considered eligible.

However, the board did not decide on advocacy. Instead, the hearing expert said he did not have the authority to make any decisions because legal violations raised the possibility of criminal charges that exceeded his authority.

Hearing expert Jason Hinds urged Bambanek to take his complaint to legal officials, such as the state attorney or attorney general.

Bambanek expressed disappointment that the board concluded it “does not even have the authority to review the issue” and said the decision provides a blank check to public officials who want to use tax dollars to publicize referendums they support.

“You can do all kinds of advocacy without using the word ‘vote’,” he said.

Bambanek said he brought the matter to the attention of the Illinois State Police and the attorney general. He said neither of them were very interested in what they had to say.

He bypassed Champaign County State’s Attorney Julie Rietz’s office, which has previously stated that county officials acted within the law.

County officials hope voters will approve a second quarter-cent sales tax that they say would raise an estimated $7 million for public safety programs.

But critics, including local state Rep. Carol Ammons and Supervisor George Danos, argue the county already has enough reserves and doesn’t need the money. Both oppose using taxpayer funds to publicize the measure.