Shelby Co. (ECWd) - The forensic audit of the Shelby County Sheriff's office exposed one particular item that jumped out at us. According to the audit, page 5, the Sheriff's office paid out on 11,808 hours that were never actually worked during the audit period of...
Shelby Co. (ECWd) - The Shelby County Board held a special meeting tonight for the presentation of the forensic audit of the County Sheriff's office payroll from 2015 to 2020. Our investigation into payroll fraud began clear back in 2018 and the volume of malfeasance we had...
Boone County, IL. (ECWd) - After losing his reelection bid for Mayor of Poplar Grove, Owen Costanza filed a complaint in Boone County Circuit Court alleging defamation among other things. Defendants then filed a Motion to Dismiss under the Citizens Participation Act ("CPA") or ("SLAPP") claiming they...
Madison County, IL. (ECWd) - Press Release: Doug Hulme Requests Illinois Attorney General to Review March 25th and 28th Election Board Hearings Chaired by Chris Slusser. EDWARDSVILLE - A request for review was filed with the Illinois Attorney General Public Access Counselor for multiple violations of the Illinois...
Bellmont, IL. (ECWd) - ". . . the Public Access Bureau concludes that the Village of Bellmont (Village) Board of Trustees (Board) violated OMA in connection with its April 13, 2021, meeting." Jonathan King, a Bellmont resident, filed a Request for Review with the Attorney General's Public...
Illinois (ECWd) - Gubernatorial Candidate, Jesse Sullivan's campaign responded to our questions pertaining to the use of public property for campaign purposes as first exposed in this article. We sent the following to Candidate Sullivan yesterday: Mr. Sullivan, The following link reflects a campaign add which utilizes public...
Madison County, IL. (ECWd) - The Madison County Electoral Board held its objection hearings last week but did not publish the meeting agenda at least 48 hours in advance of the hearing. This rendered every decision made during the hearing as invalid. The Board then announced it would...
ILLINOIS (ECWd) - The campaign for Jesse Sullivan for Governor recently published a campaign advertisement, which we believe constitutes improper electioneering - not only by Sullivan but also by all of the Sheriffs who appeared in uniform with their publicly owned vehicles behind them, while endorsing...
White County, IL. (ECWd) - The objection to current White County Supervisor of Assessments Terry Abell's candidate filing was, in the end, sustained by the White County election board on Monday afternoon. After a 90-minute hearing of evidence and much deliberation, the board, consisting of County...
Shelby Co. (ECWd) - The Shelby County Petition Election Board heard the continued cases against Lynn Williams and Mitchell Esslinger who were both represented by Coles County Attorney Todd Reardon. The first hearing can be viewed at this link which is the article covering that hearing. Lynn...
