Skokie Ethics Commission dismisses third complaint brought by independent trustee
The Skokie Ethics Commission on Wednesday dismissed a complaint alleging that one of the village’s top attorneys had inappropriately mixed politics and municipal business by campaigning during village hours.
The complaint, the third in a year brought by Skokie’s only independent trustee, alleged that Skokie Assistant Corporation Counsel James McCarthy had been passing out leaflets and supervising campaign activities while technically at work for the village on Nov. 7 and Nov. 8.
Trustee James Johnson stated he had seen McCarthy passing out campaign literature opposing a trio of government reform referendums with volunteers nearby on Nov 7. Witness Maggie Vandermeer testified that she had seen McCarthy doing the same set of activities Nov. 8.
Johnson is the only member of the Village Board not affiliated with the Skokie Caucus Party, which has dominated village politics since the 1970s and opposed the three referendums that passed in the November election.
Johnson was a vocal supporter of all three referendum measures and stated during the hearing that he had been volunteering for the Skokie Alliance for Electoral Reform at the Skokie Courthouse when he saw McCarthy there.
Illinois law prohibits publicly compensated officers from soliciting votes, managing a campaign or assisting at polling places while at work.
McCarthy did not deny that he had been distributing leaflets and working with political volunteers Nov. 7.
McCarthy’s attorney Michael Dorf argued that McCarthy had used time off to do the campaign work, stating McCarthy had listed Nov. 8 as a vacation day and calling on village Finance Director Julien Prendei as a witness to support that argument.
“It is (Johnson’s) burden to prove that Mr. McCarthy was not on vacation, personal or compensatory time off,” Dorf said. “One does not need to go to Bali or Las Vegas on their day off.”
McCarthy testified that the usual practice for taking time off in the corporation counsel’s office is to verbally notify colleagues and supervisors of planned time off, and said he had done so ahead of the election. No members of the village corporation counsel’s officer were at the hearing to testify.
The Illinois State Board of Elections lists McCarthy as the chair of the Skokie Caucus Party.
Johnson noted that he had been doing nearly identical activities to McCarthy at the Skokie Courthouse and stated that he had been heavily involved with the campaign promoting the electoral reform referenda.
The difference between his activities and McCarthy’s, he said, was that “I am an elected official of the village of Skokie; Mr. McCarthy is an appointed officer.”
“Under our village code we both have the designation of officer but our jobs are fundamentally different,” Johnson continued. “I do not have any compensated time. I show up for our village meetings and besides that I don’t really have any time obligations.”
Village trustees receive a $9,500 annual stipend for their work, according to Skokie records. McCarthy’s title with Skokie is assistant corporation counsel, and records show the village employs four people with that title, with salaries ranging from $13,800 to $137,850.
The Skokie Ethics Commission, composed of Jonathan Minkus, Rev. Richard Lanford and Rabbi Leonard Matanky, has previously voted to dismiss two other complaints from Johnson. The first of those complaints alleged that Mayor George Van Dusen had conspired with Chief Corporation Counsel Michael Lorge to block the three form-of-government referenda from the ballot for political purposes.
The commission heard that complaint twice after the Illinois Attorney General found that it had violated rules for public meetings in its first consideration of the complaint.
The second complaint alleged that McCarthy and Lorge had offered Johnson an appointment to a village board or commission in exchange for his withdrawing from the race for village board.
The commission rejected both of those complaints on the ground that their contents did not merit inquiry under Illinois ethics statute.
