WHEATON, IL - It's time for DuPage County voters to step up and reward College of DuPage trustee Kathy Hamilton for her political courage by supporting her slate of three reform candidates on the April 7th ballot, says State Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton).
"They could go in and on Day One take control of the situation, add a lot more transparency," Ives said, as well as stop multiple vendor invoices being hidden under COD's minimum amount before seeking board approval. Hamilton, serving as the board's vice-chairman, has been alone in her board votes on several occasions.
"Kathy Hamilton is the only one that stood up and did the right thing by shining the light on what's going on at COD," Ives told Illinois Review Sunday afternoon. "What we need to do is reward the political courage she has taken. She has been under attack by fellow Republicans on that board, as well."
Ives says she's backing Hamilton's three candidates - Deanne Mazzochi , Frank Napolitano, and Chuck Bernstein - for College of DuPage's Board of Trustees. If Hamilton's slate of three were to win, with Hamilton still on the board, the reform group would hold a majority on the seven member board.
Hamilton, a member of the trustee board that holds an MBA and is a certified public account, was censured by her fellow board members when she published last July on Illinois Review the reason why she was the sole vote opposing the board accepting a $20 million grant offered by the Quinn Administration before last year's election.
"[The censure] was retaliation and bullying because I spoke out against tuition increases, proposed tax hikes and the quality of budgeting," Hamilton said then, "... Plus my op-ed published on Illinois Review."
Hamilton explained her opposition to a proposed $50 million building, saying in an op-ed the idea was launched when Quinn offered the school a $20 million taxpayer-funded grant.
The total size of this project was being determined [by] funding. If the state provided the $20 million, it was a $50 million project. If the state didn’t provide the funding it was a $30 million project. The request for additional classroom space should have included a complete assessment of current and future needs. This investment should have been measured against a defined business model and strategic plan and should have be an open and transparent starting point for decisions. The impact of any investment on a strategic plan should have been clear or made clear. This was not done.
Hamilton's frankness stirred Adam Andrzejewski's transparency group Open the Books to file FOIAs on correspondence concerning Quinn's offer. COD President Bob Breuder's emails revealed his plan to promote Quinn at the school's graduation ceremony.
Since that July 2014, more discrepencies as to COD spending has come to the surface, and more are yet to be made public, Ives told Illinois Review Sunday. Last week, the board voted to buyout Breuder's contract with a $725,000 parachute deal.
"Kathy came to me over a year ago about the situation at COD," Ives said. "She's kept me aware of what was going on."
Ives said she's aware of ongoing investigations at the College of DuPage that are likely to be made public soon, but couldn't say whether it would lead to indictments or a grand jury.
"I know for a fact the state's attorney is investigating," Ives said. "As to whether that will lead to an indictment, I won't comment on that. It's too sensitive of a subject...This is not going away for a while."
Asked if she thought the situation at College of DuPage was an anomaly, or if similar problems could be plaguing other community colleges around the state, Ives said she preferred not to speak to any other community college.