McLean County Clerk Kathy Michael’s campaign could face fines for late and incomplete filings with the Illinois State Board of Elections, a board official said Monday.
Michael, a Republican seeking a fifth term, faces Democratic challenger Joshua Crockett in the Nov. 3 election.
Michael submitted a Statement of Organization with the state board on Oct. 20, the day after a WGLT reporter asked about Crockett’s significant cash advantage in the race. Michael said she planned to win because of her years of experience and said WGLT was mischaracterizing her campaign contributions.
![The candidates for McLean County Clerk, Democrat Joshua Crockett [left] and Republican incumbent Kathy Michael say McLean County's elections are secure and prepared to handle federal scrutiny of its process. But they differ in how to administer certain clerk's office services, including elections.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/0cbe766/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1763x1166+0+4/resize/260x172!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fa1%2F5d%2Faf9c52654bf4958e08d880da6d79%2Fjosh-crockett-kathy-michael-credit-kayla-piper-and-the-vidette.jpg)
“We might not have exceeded the huge amounts that you have to have for the reporting,” Michael said.
The Oct. 20 statement filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections, or ISBE, essentially reactivates her campaign committee that had been dormant since 2019 after she won re-election a second time. Michael submitted a revised statement Monday which indicated $2,412.59 was available. The initial filing Oct. 20 listed no available funds.
A Statement of Organization is required to be filed with ISBE within 10 days of a campaign exceeding the $5,000 threshold in contributions or expenses, said ISBE spokesperson Matt Dietrich. According to a Schedule of Receipts that Michael filed on Monday, the campaign would have reached that mark on contributions on Aug. 3, when it accepted a $5,000 gift from Robert Dobski, a restaurant owner from Bloomington. The other $4,700 in contributions listed were from Michael herself.
The same report shows $8,479.41 in campaign expenses from July 31 to Oct. 20.
Late filings are subject to a $50 per day fine, according to Dietrich.
“They could be up to 44 days late in this filing, which would amount to a fine of $2,200,” Dietrich said.
Candidates are also required to file a quarterly report for each three-month period in which they were fundraising. That report would have been due Oct. 15. Those late filings are subject to $25 daily fines.
The campaign has not sent a quarterly report to ISBE as of Monday afternoon.
“If you are filing your income taxes and let’s say you have some freelance income you file your 1099 schedule, but you don’t file your Form 1040. That’s kind of what it’s like,” Dietrich said in explaining the difference between the Schedule of Receipts which was filed and the quarterly report which was not.
Michael declined to be interviewed for the story but said she believed all of the campaign’s filings were up to date with the state.
Dietrich said ISBE plans to talk with Michael’s campaign committee to get an understanding of why the documents were filed in that manner and how the campaign can get its filings up to date.
“It does appear they are trying to abide by the spirit of the law,” he said. “Our main goal here is transparency.” Dietrich said at that time, ISBE’s campaign disclosure division will determine what, if any, fine to assess. The campaign has the option to contest the penalty or make a settlement offer that would require approval of ISBE’s eight-member board.
“Typically a committee that offers to pay 50% of what they’ve been assessed, depending on what the balance is in their account, we’ll typically have their offer accepted,” Dietrich said.
Michael, who has been in office since 2010, was unopposed in the Republican primary election. The Democratic Party slated Crockett after the primary.
Michael’s office has faced scrutiny for multiple property tax calculation errors from her office over the last several years, which has led to tax bodies seeking emergency loans or – in one case – requesting a large levy increase.
“We’ve seen property tax errors, the clerk blowing her budget without county board approval and an overall lack of transparency, but now we are seeing a lack of transparency from my opponent on the campaign side,” Crockett said when asked about Michael’s ISBE filings.
“She lied and that is not OK.”
