The News Gazette

Rantoul officials unaware of lobbyist funds
By Tim Mitchell
Friday, April 25, 2008 12:07 PM CDT
RANTOUL – The village spent $8,000 on a lobbyist even though the expenditure was not included in the village budget and was not approved by the village board.
All six members of the village board told The News-Gazette they didn't even know taxpayer money was spent to hire the lobbyist.
Rantoul Comptroller Scot Brandon confirmed on Wednesday a report by the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform that the village spent $8,000 last year to hire lobbyist Timothy S. McAnarney to promote the Chanute Redevelopment Commission.
Brandon said the money was not included in the village budget, nor did the village board ever vote to spend the money.
"The village board doesn't need to approve an expenditure if the amount is less than $10,000," Brandon said.
Rantoul Mayor Neal Williams said the spending was approved by former Village Administrator David Johnston, who resigned in January.
"The lobbyist was needed in an effort to get money from the military to try to get money to clean up the former Chanute Air Force Base," Williams said.
Village board member Jim Stubblefield said he was surprised to hear that the village spent any money on a lobbyist and that he was even more concerned that spending was done without the knowledge of the village board.
"I wasn't aware of it," Stubblefield said. "I didn't know we did that. So we spent eight grand on a lobbyist. How about that."
Village board member Joe Bolser said he wasn't aware of spending money on a lobbyist either.
"This is the first I've heard of it," Bolser said.
Trustee Chuck Smith said he was completely unaware the village had spent money on a lobbyist.
"We're dealing with a deficit budget here, and we're asking our employees to cut back and take overall less pay for the year, and then we have this spending issue going on completely without our knowledge," Smith said. "That's $8,000 that could have been spent on our employees' salaries."
Trustee Cliff White said he was caught by surprise by the news.
"I question why spending this money was necessary," White said. "It's money that comes out of the taxpayers' pockets.
"While it is permissible for staff to spend anything under $10,000 without coming to the board for approval, the staff should have at least sent the village board members an e-mail telling us about it."
Village board member Margurette Carter said she also didn't know about hiring the lobbyist.
"The staff should have given us this information in the administrator's report," Carter said. "It makes me wonder what other things are being paid for that costs less than $10,000 and what we should do about it."
Trustee Herman Fogal said hiring the lobbyist was news to him.
"I don't ever recall being told about spending this money," Fogal said.