Skokie board wants independent trustee fined $5,000 for ethics complaints; he alleges corruption
Skokie’s mayor and five members of its village board have filed a motion urging the village’s Ethics Commission to fine the sixth village board member, James Johnson, $5,000 for filing a “frivolous” ethics complaint. Johnson said he is being retaliated against and the village is “perpetuating political corruption.”
Johnson has filed four ethics complaints since 2021, and the village’s Ethics Commission has dismissed the first three. The fourth accuses Mayor George Van Dusen and the rest of the trustees on the Village Board of misappropriating employee services. The complaint had been scheduled to be heard at the Oct. 25 Ethics Commission hearing, but was postponed when the Ethics Commission’s attorney, James Ferolo, brought up a motion to dismiss Johnson’s complaint.
The motion, submitted by Van Dusen and trustees Khem Khoeun, Ralph Klein, Alison Pure Slovin, Keith Robinson and Edie Sue Sutker, said Johnson’s ethics complaints are “serious and defamatory statements alleging the commission of crimes, they lack any substantive, factual support or allegation and also border on the absurd.”
Johnson is Skokie’s sole trustee not affiliated with the Skokie Caucus Party, which has dominated elections in Skokie for decades. He ran for election in April 2021 as an independent and won.
Johnson’s fourth ethics complaint accuses Skokie corporation counsel Michael Lorge and assistant corporation counsel James McCarthy of making campaign donations, soliciting campaign donations, and organizing campaign fundraisers as “implicit conditions” to work for the village. Ross Secler, an outside lawyer, said members of the Village Board hired him to file the motion to the Ethics Commission to avoid any conflict of interest.
The motion said Johnson’s complaint “fails to offer a scintilla of evidence even close to establishing these ‘overwhelming’ conflicts of interest with Lorge and McCarthy.” It called Johnson’s complaints “nonsensical, conspiratorial allegations” and compared them to former President Donald Trump’s claim that the 2020 election was botched.
The motion also cites an Illinois law that states an ethics commission can levy a $5,000 administrative fine against a person who intentionally makes false, frivolous or bad faith allegations. The motion accuses Johnson of having filed four “frivolous” complaints based on “debunked allegations.” The motion then asks the commission to dismiss the complaint as frivolous, levy an administrative fine of $5,000 against Johnson for “perpetuating false, frivolous, or bad faith allegations” and grant any relief the commission deems equitable and just.
Village trustees receive an annual stipend of $9,500 for their work and the position is not considered full-time, according to Skokie Communications and Community Engagement Director Patrick Deignan.
Johnson told Pioneer Press he is being retaliated against for submitting ethics complaints.
“My colleagues on the Village Board are perpetuating political corruption in our village legal department, and I will not stand for it,” he said.
“I am advocating for a nonpartisan legal department that serves the people of Skokie, not the interest of a local political party.”
Van Dusen told Pioneer Press that Johnson’s complaints are a “conspiracy.”
“There comes a point where it is harassment,” said Van Dusen.
Secler went further into the reasoning behind the motion and fine when he spoke to Pioneer Press
“It’s one thing when these allegations are made once, and they’re summarily dismissed and taken for the nonsense that they are,” said Secler.
“It’s a second thing when the same stuff keeps being re-alleged after they’ve been dismissed. (Being that) it’s under state law — which is adapted and incorporated into the village code — you can’t file false and frivolous claims like this and waste time and resources again and again... without consequence. And so that’s why we’re seeking this.”
At the Oct. 25 Ethics Commission hearing, Ferolo said Johnson would have until Nov. 8 to submit a written response to the motion. Secler will then be able to submit a written response to Johnson’s response by Nov. 15. The Ethics Commission is scheduled to hold a hearing on Nov. 29.
