“Mulchgate” – Claims in Committee Hearing proven false!

DuPage Co. (ECWd) –

Representative Peter Breen testified in support of his wood chip bill on behalf of his constituents a few weeks ago and we now have proof many portions of his testimony was based on either false information and/or in some cases what appear to be outright lies as it relates to the claim his township is spending money getting rid of wood chips.

1:40 mark of the video – “What would happen at the end of the season is the township would have to pay a waste hauler to take that pile of wood chips off to a landfill“

We filed a Freedom of Information Act request to his Township for a copy of applicable documents to either prove or disprove his testimony which was “that the township would have to pay a waste hauler to take that pile of wood chips off to a landfill. “

Our FOIA

• A copy of any payments made for the purpose of disposal of wood chips and/or mulch to any landfill in the last 12 months. This would include any payment for trucking, hauling, pickup, delivery, as well as actual payment to the landfill.
• A copy of any receipt for expenses related to any of the above-referenced payments of landfilling wood chips and/or mulch in the last 12 months.

Their Response

“There are no documents responsive to your request”

That means there have been no payments, contrary to the oral testimony at the hearing!

That fact alone should convince every person in that committee that this bill is not being represented with truth but instead false information. In fact, our findings were so extensive it took two articles to get the information to the public, here and here. 

Representative Tom Bennett asked Representative Breen the following at the 15:45 mark of the video. “

“One other question if I may, you’re saying at the end of the season might be a big pile just sitting there and they pay somebody to take that to somewhere else?“

Representative Breen responds:

“I understand, as it was told to me, we are taking it to a landfill, literally having to pay someone to take a large pile of wood chips to a landfill.” (15:58 mark of the video)

Representative Breen, you were not told the truth! 

Who ever told this information to Representative Breen needs to be removed from public office.  This state is filled with lying politicians.  When we allow them to lie in order to influence their legislators to legalize their illegal actions it does nothing but degrades our system of government and our trust in our laws & elected officials.

We urge Representative Breen to fact check things he is being told in the future as to avoid further embarrassment of providing false information to the legislative body.  Those who support this behavior with votes for bills based on misinformation and lies are part of the problem in this state.

The fact of the matter is, wood chip delivery has been a long-standing tradition as a means of taking care of those who take care of them, just as we were told.  Those complaints are coming in even more now that we exposed the first two stories on this.   This long long-standing tradition is actually a long-standing statutory violation of law that for reasons we will never understand, has become a hot button for passage.

Why is a certain segment of legislators so eager to legalize this practice for 1432 Townships instead of holding those five townships accountable for violating the law?

Representative Breen closed out his testimony with an opinion based on this false information.

“It’s getting rid of a problem. It’s reducing a cost to the township.” 16:39 mark of the video.

How can it be reducing a cost when his very own township has no record of any costs associated with this so called problem?

The public is tired of manipulation by their elected officials and this bill has all the indicators of yet another Dupage County problem that is going to be thrust on the rest of the state.

I ask, how can anyone vote for this bill when it was based on so many false representations?  We urge this bill be stopped and if you need more info to justify a no vote, just read these two articles here and here.