Federal prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into the office of Republican Illinois Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka, issuing subpoenas seeking information on whether employees did political work for her on state time.
A spokeswoman for Topinka, who is also the GOP state chairwoman, acknowledged Wednesday that the treasurer’s office had received a subpoena in February and had turned over documents to federal authorities. The spokeswoman, Carolyn Barry-Frost, said Topinka was “confident” authorities will find no wrongdoing on the part of Topinka or her staff.
Another subpoena, a copy of which was obtained by the Tribune, was also delivered in February to Cathy Lynne Santos, a former contractual employee of the treasurer’s office. It sought “correspondence, reports, computer records” and other materials related to campaign activities of regular and contractual employees of the treasurer’s office dating to 1997.
The investigation of Topinka’s office comes as the federal government continues to expand probes into allegations that employees in several state offices have been doing campaign work while drawing state paychecks.
Both the House Republican and Democratic caucuses have come under federal scrutiny following allegations that staffers did political work on state time.
Meanwhile, Senate President Emil Jones Jr. (D-Chicago) last month acknowledged his caucus had received a subpoena seeking time sheets of state workers, campaign material, computer disks and e-mail dating to 1998.
Those investigations are occurring as the U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago continues its 5-year-old Operation Safe Road investigation into corruption in the secretary of state’s office when former Gov. George Ryan ran it. That investigation has thus far led to 63 indictments and several convictions, including that of Ryan’s former chief of staff.
In an interview Wednesday, Santos said she responded to her subpoena by supplying a two-page “testimonial affidavit” to federal authorities she prepared in November. It detailed instances when Santos alleged she and others in the treasurer’s office were pressured by supervisors on state time to do work for Topinka’s successful 2002 re-election effort.
Santos said she witnessed treasurer’s office employees during work hours setting up fundraiser events for Topinka, as well as doing advance work for political events and holding strategy meetings in the treasurer’s 4th-floor offices at the Thompson Center in the Loop.
“I just thought it was so reckless and I was told everybody does it,” Santos said.
The accusations mirror claims made by former state Rep. Tom Dart, Topinka’s Democratic opponent last fall, who during the campaign alleged that employees of the treasurer’s office were campaigning for her while they were supposed to be working for the state.
Barry-Frost said Topinka was eager to comply with the investigation and said the office’s inspector general, Crystal Caison, has also opened an internal probe into the allegations. “We believe [this subpoena] was a reactionary inquiry based on allegations made by Cathy Santos,” Barry-Frost said. “We gave [the federal authorities] the information that they were seeking, and we haven’t heard anything from them since.”
But Santos maintains she was surprised by the subpoena and denied approaching federal authorities with her concerns.
A spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office declined comment on the investigation.
The disclosure of an investigation into Topinka’s office could further damage a state GOP still reeling from the Safe Road investigation and other scandals. Fallout from those probes led to a November election debacle for the party, with Democrats taking control of both houses of the General Assembly and regaining the governor’s mansion for the first time in a generation.
Topinka was the only Republican to hold on to statewide office in the last election when she won a third term. Soon after, Republican leaders turned to her to take over the state party.
In that role, she succeeded Gary MacDougal, who was brought in just months earlier to take over the chairman’s post from state Rep. Lee Daniels of Elmhurst, who had also been the longtime House Republican leader. Daniels was forced to relinquish the state party post, and later his House leadership post, after disclosures that federal agents were looking into allegations he used state resources to bolster Republican campaign efforts. He has denied the allegations.
The Feb. 12 grand jury subpoena to Santos sought both records related to “political campaign activities of employees of the Illinois state treasurer’s office” as well as of “political campaign activities of individuals and/or entities having a contractual relationship with the Illinois state treasurer’s office.”
Santos said she worked for the office from February through June of 2002, a period that included the March primary. Topinka did not have a primary challenger, but Santos said supervisors pushing Topinka’s campaign efforts were already focused on the general election.
In her capacity with the treasurer’s office, Santos said she helped coordinate Topinka’s “Cash Dash” program, which allows residents to search state records for unclaimed property, such as bank accounts. State records show Santos was paid $12,500 for the work.
Santos is not related to former City Treasurer Miriam Santos. However, she is the sister of Cynthia Santos, who serves as a commissioner on the boards of both the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District and the Public Building Commission.
Cathy Santos is a co-founder with her fiance Doug Ibendahl of Republican Young Professionals, a small but growing GOP outreach organization. Ibendahl is a former lawyer for the state Republican Party.
Santos said she has been interviewed twice by FBI agents since receiving the subpoena but has not been called to testify before the grand jury.
Santos said she turned over copies of e-mail exchanges with Topinka, a copy of her contract with the treasurer’s office, the work she did on the Cash Dash program and the November affidavit. Santos said she wrote the affidavit after relating her concerns to Topinka about employee political activity.
Santos said Topinka e-mailed a response. “She said to put it in writing, otherwise it is just hearsay,” Santos said.
Santos said she signed the affidavit and mailed a copy to Topinka’s Riverside home. Later, Santos said, she met with Caison, who had a copy of the report.
Caison, who did not return a phone call seeking comment, told Santos that she was going to write an internal report on the matter to Topinka, Santos said.
In the affidavit, Santos said, she related how just a few days after starting her Cash Dash job she was taken aside by a Topinka aide and asked to help organize fundraising. She said other treasurer’s office employees also asked her to make campaign-related phone calls for Topinka. Santos also said she “witnessed on several occasions pressure being put upon the treasurer’s employees to participate in get-out-the-vote activities.”
In addition, Santos said employees told her that if they worked weekend events or evening hours for Topinka’s 2002 campaign they received “comp time” from their state job.
