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October 9, 2024

DuPage County Board Member Donald Puchalski’s Incompatible Offices?

By John Kraft & Kirk Allen

On October 5, 2016

DuPage County, IL. (ECWd) –

A complaint has been filed with the Office of the Executive Inspector General alleging DuPage County Board Member Donald Puchalski is in two incompatible offices – DuPage County Board Member and DuPage County Public Guardian.

See press release below:

Rolly Waller

Candidate, DuPage County Board, District 1 

630-865-5744[email protected]

 FOR RELEASE: Immediate

COMPLAINT FILED WITH OFFICE OF EXECUTIVE INSPECTOR GENERAL –  

DUPAGE COUNTY BOARD MEMBER DON PUCHALSKI’S APPOINTMENTS 

AS DUPAGE’S PUBLIC GUARDIAN & ADMINISTRATOR A VIOLATION OF STATE LAW, COMPLAINT ALLEGES 

HINSDALE, IL – A complaint was recently filed with the Office of Executive Inspector General (OEIG) Maggie Hickey regarding the The Governor’s Office of Executive Appointments and DuPage County Board Member Donald Puchalski’s acceptance of the appointments as the DuPage Public Guardian in 2012 and DuPage Public Administrator in 2014, while maintaining his position as a DuPage County board member.

Candidate for DuPage County Board Member – District 1 Rolly Waller sent the complaint to the OEIG on Sept. 29th, after learning that “no member of a county board, during the term of office for which he or she is elected, may be appointed to, accept, or hold any office” according to the Illinois Public Officer Prohibited Activities Act. 

Puchalski, an Addison attorney, checked that he certified that he had read the provisions of state ethics acts and “any other state or federal statute or rule applicable to the position” in his 2013 Illinois State Senate resume. 

Glaringly, Puchalski does not mention he is the DuPage Public Guardian and Administrator on his biographical page on the DuPage County website nor on his campaign website. 

There is no mention of his position and compensation as a County Board member on his Statement of Economic Interest filed in 2013 with the State as part of the appointment process. There is no mention of his positions as Public Guardian and Public Administrator on his Statement of Economic Interest filed in 2016 with DuPage County as part of being a county board member.

“When I became aware of my opponent holding three public offices, I believed this was another example of cronyism and triple dipping,” stated Waller. “I also saw this as a conflict of interest, as he, as a County Board member, votes on the funding of the Court Clerk’s office and the Circuit Court, which oversees cases and determines payments to be made to the Public Guardian and Administrator.”

Waller continued, “The more I learned and the more I researched, I realized that this was more than an ethical issue. It is a legal issue. In fact, it is illegal according to the Act. This matter goes beyond the political arena.”

“These state appointments of a sitting County Board member may have never been made public had I not been a candidate,” Waller added.

Waller calls for the immediate resignation of Puchalski from his state appointments. He also calls for recommendations be made so that illegal appointments no longer happen again in Illinois and for the Illinois legislature to adopt changes to the appointment process to remove the offices of Public Guardian and Administrator from the political arena.

The OEIG investigates state executive complaints, then decides the appropriate agency for review. An initial response may come within a month.

 – 30 –  

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Contact Rolly Waller, 630-865-5744[email protected]  See attachments for complaint and supporting documentation.

 [gview file=”https://edgarcountywatchdogs.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Waller-Complaint-Final.pdf”]

[gview file=”https://edgarcountywatchdogs.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/FOIA-Response-09262016-Waller-Pulchalski-1-1.pdf”]

[gview file=”https://edgarcountywatchdogs.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Waller-Supporting-Documentation-1.pdf”]

Article photo from DuPage County website…

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6 Comments
  • D. Ross
    Posted at 17:42h, 05 October Reply

    This guy was trying to keep his appointments low profile. Why? If he knew it was all legal, wouldn’t he be promoting it?

  • Tom F L
    Posted at 09:46h, 06 October Reply

    Puchalski isn’t a legitimate County Board member nor is he a legitimate candidate.

    He should have relinquished his Board position once he accepted being a public guardian.

    Not only did he not step down, he kept it all low profile and hidden.

    Now, four years later, he can no longer pick and choose. He’s given up that right. He should be removed from ALL these offices ASAP.

  • Rob Johnson
    Posted at 16:50h, 06 October Reply

    Don’t kid yourself Chairman Cronin made these “appointments” knowing full well what the law was. Yes, this is cronyism and more importantly how Chairman Cronin buys loyalty from the board members. However, I’m sure if you spoke with Mr. Cronin he would emphatically state this is not triple dipping but part of his consolidation plan, the “ACT initiative.” Which should stand for:
    ABANDON CRONIN’S TACTICS!!  

  • Ann T.
    Posted at 22:10h, 06 October Reply

    Silence and failure to disclose is, in fact, fraud. Fraud is a crime.

  • Rich
    Posted at 14:22h, 09 October Reply

    One needn’t be an attorney, let alone an inspector general, to understand “no member of a county board, during the term of office for which he or she is elected, may be appointed to, accept, or hold any office”.

    Got that, Don?

    It’s funny to seek a LEGAL opinion on such simple language. I bet if you ask an average 5th-grader to explain what it means, he or she would shrug and exclaim, “Just what it says! No member of a county board, during the term of office for which he or she is elected, may be appointed to, accept, or hold any office! Gees! Can I play Angry Birds, now?”

    The only person who doesn’t get it is Don Puchalski.

    • jmkraft
      Posted at 19:11h, 09 October Reply

      Same should go for those stuffing their pockets with the health, dental, and life insurances…
      But they won’t even seek an opinion on that one…because they know we are right.

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