Illinois county employees urged to speak out ahead of ethics hearing

[February 17, 2025]  By Catrina Barker | The Center Square contributor

(The Center Square) – A former McLean County Board candidate is urging government employees to come forward ahead of an Illinois State Board of Elections hearing concerning an ethics complaint.

Before a recent election, officials were accused of soliciting donations for a political action committee seeking to eliminate the position of county auditor.

Chad Berck said the largest piece of evidence is an admission email from Trevor Sierra, a former lead civil attorney in the McLean County State’s Attorney’s Office. In the email, Sierra explained his involvement in the solicitation activities.

The hearing in front of the state elections board was scheduled for Feb. 12, but was postponed by attorney Keith Hunt representing then-McLean County Vice Chair Elizabeth Johnston, who has been accused of soliciting donations.

Johnston is the respondent to the Illinois State Board of Election complaint and Hunt has made a motion to dismiss the complaint.

“There is nothing in the Illinois Elections Code that empowers the State Board of Elections to enforce McLean County ordinances and as such the State Board of Elections lacks jurisdiction over this matter,” said Hunt in the motion to dismiss.

Berk said he created an affidavit, or a statement of evidence, and if anybody wants to come forward and state facts, it would be purely confidential.

“No names will be mentioned,” said Berck, who urged government officials who participated in the alleged donation solicitation or made contributions to come forward.

Berck suggested it's possible Sierra was terminated from his position due to his voiced opposition against the alleged actions of Johnston and county administrator Cassy Taylor.

“Well, they [the solicitation attempts] took place Sept. 1, Sept. 5, Sept. 10 and the third attempt was Sept. 19 to collect funds,” said Berck. “There were three attempts at collecting funds. Then he was let go at that time of Sept. 19 attempt. So that's interesting.”

Sierra provided The Center Square with no comment surrounding the nature of his employment ending at the office.

The Illinois State Board of Elections office in Springfield - BlueRoomStream

In a November email to county board members, Sierra said, “I regret my participation in these activities [donation solicitation] and offer my sincere apologies to County Auditor Michelle Anderson, each of you, and most importantly, the taxpayers of McLean County.”

Berck suggested authorities not investigating Unit 5 School District for similar actions emboldened government officials to allegedly solicit donations for a PAC established to support the referendum to eliminate the position of county auditor.

“Chuck Erickson [a then-McLean County board member] had contacted the Illinois State Police, which should be a neutral party in this, uninvolved with the county,” said Berck. “They should have at least investigated facts. They apparently, from what I was told, have declined [to investigate Unit 5]. So that's a dead end, unfortunately.”

Berck said he and the campaign for Randy Knapp, another McLean County board candidate who lost Nov. 5, 2024, were indirectly affected by the alleged electioneering by government officials.

“How do I know where this money went and what it was used for? Was it [the money collected] used against my campaign? I urged a vote ‘no,’ [to eliminate the county auditor] and this was a vote ‘yes’ campaign. So obviously at some level, it did go against Randy and I's campaign,” said Berck. “It's against ethics of the county board and also state code. So if it's hot potatoe’d, there's a serious problem in this state.”

Champaign County resident John Bambenek lodged a similar complaint with the Illinois State Board of Elections. The board heard his case and dismissed it for “lack of jurisdiction.”

Bambenek alleged that Champaign County Executive Steve Summers signed off on spending at least $68,000 of public funds advocating for a sales tax hike ballot initiative. Both of McLean County’s referenda to eliminate the position of auditor and the sales tax hike initiative failed in November 2024.

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