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March 28, 2024

Illinois OEIG unmasks whistleblower to County Board –

By John Kraft & Kirk Allen

On August 7, 2017

SPRINGFIELD, IL. (ECWd)

A complaint was filed with the Illinois Governor’s Office of the Executive Inspector General (“OEIG”) complaining about:

  • IDOT Chief Counsel’s wrongful interpretation of state law
  • IDOT Chief Counsel’s lack of a definitive ruling base on established law
  • Edgar County Board’s failure to comply with state law when dealing with the airport grant process and required land zoning

It is no secret that a certain individual has been a thorn in the side of the Edgar County Board and its airport for the past several years. The local “newspaper” even spews out lies about him and his complaints with the airport.

The bottom line with him, and with us, is compliance with the law. We do not doubt that eventually, this airport will receive some sort of funding from the FAA and IDOT, however, they must first comply with the laws of this state regarding this airport.

Here is a partial list of what has been uncovered about this airport’s past and current actions – and, yes, much of it is way in the past, but some is current:

  • Fraudulent grant applications
  • Human Rights complaint against the airport and is alleged violation of civil rights with respect to its former prohibition of breastfeeding
  • (former) Airport manager who was an abusive liar
  • Special Treatment of certain individuals in their hangar lease terms in violation of grant assurances
  • Another fraudulent grant application
  • A secret airplane crash on the runway and nobody knows when it happened, how it happened, who was flying, or how the plane got towed from the runway into a t-hangar – they know what plane, who owned it and what t-hangar it was placed into…
  • Another fraudulent grant application
  • Hiring of a (former) airport manager who submitted a fraudulent employment application, and they knew it
  • Appointment of a (former) airport board member who has now been arrested and charged with voter fraud in Indiana
  • Violation of law by accepting grants for improvements without having established the required “land zoning”
  • Establishment of “hazard zoning” without at three-person zoning commission
  • Continuing to apply for grants without the required “land zoning” and attempting to pass off the ‘hazard zoning” as good enough

What was the OEIG’s response to the official complaint filed with them and alleging violations of law on the part of IDOT’s Chief Counsel and the Edgar County Board?

Your matter was referred to the Illinois Department of Transportation and also forwarded to the Edgar County Board.”

Never mind that the county board and IDOT’s chief counsel are the ones named in the complaint – they gave the complaints to them like there is actually any possibility of being reviewed by a neutral party on the complaint. IDOT had already endorsed the County Board’s attempts at circumventing state law by claiming “hazard zoning” is the legislative intent of “land zoning” – which it is not and they know it.

The actions of Deputy OEIG Antoinette A. Kwateng and OEIG Margaret A. Hickey have placed the complainant in the position of retaliation by the county board for his complaints to the OEIG – we do not anticipate retaliation, but if this is standard practice with the OEIG, rest assured retaliation could happen elseware.

For what it’s worth, at least we should already know the results of this investigation – the complaint will be unfounded. After all, why would they find themselves in violation of state law?

The only remaining question is who do you send a complaint to about the Office of the Executive Inspector General?

This complaint is about the differences in “land zoning” and “air hazard zoning” which can be reviewed in the 1967 Appellate Court decision in County of DuPage v Harris (click here) and applying the correct definition to Illinois law.

2017_08_04_Addl_Info_Ack_17-01347

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2 Comments
  • J. Mitchell
    Posted at 07:36h, 08 August

    I wonder if this article has anything to do with hiring at IDOT’s Collinsville District Office? If not, someone should take a close look at hiring: the hiring qualifications of those hired: how many of those hired have an office and show up for work: and, how many outside contractors had to be
    hired to the job of those hired but were not capable to do the work they were hired to do. A real
    fertile area for an investigation.

  • Robert O. Bogue
    Posted at 11:05h, 08 August

    J Mitchell, if you really care about your state and the future of your children… that someone is you.
    You can start by sending in FOIA requests to get factual information. These guys can help you learn how to do that if you need help.
    Then send in complaints about Collinsville to the Department or the OEIG’s office or even the US Department of Transportation in Washington DC that are factual and documented. You can do this as a whistle blower…(and hope your name is not released) but, be prepared that it will be released… based on this experience.
    You can make a big difference. You can make Illinois a better State. It won’t be as easy as you expect it to be but don’t give up….messages like this take a while to soak in and the more people you contact in government the better.
    It’s like this because Illinois is loaded with a lot of dead weight and all of which are quite happy defending their jobs a opposed to doing them. Antoinette A. Kwateng is a case in point.

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