The Skokie Ethics Commission will not investigate a village trustee’s complaint about Mayor George Van Dusen and Village Corporation Counsel Michael Lorge after commissioners on Thursday said they determined the complaint did not merit inquiry under the provisions of the ethics code.
This makes the third time in about two years that the Ethics Commission has dismissed village Trustee James Johnson’s complaints about possible conflicts of interest between village government and the Skokie Caucus Party, whose members have dominated the mayoralty and the board of trustees for decades.
In Skokie, “commissioners are appointed by the mayor and approved by the village board of trustees,” according to the village website.
Johnson has made two complaints, and the second, which was the subject of the March 2 hearing, has now been dismissed twice.
The March 2 hearing was the second the commission has held on Johnson’s complaint alleging that Van Dusen and Lorge conspired to block a trio of referenda from the November 2022 ballot. The hearing was held a second time in order to ensure compliance with the Open Meetings Act, which requires government bodies to provide public notice of government meetings and allow public participation.
In October, the commission found that Johnson’s complaint did not “establish probable cause that a violation of the State or Village of Skokie ethics ordinance occurred,” according to a letter from commission chair Jonathan Minkus to Johnson dated Oct. 12.
Johnson then submitted a request for review to the Illinois Attorney General’s Public Access Counselor alleging that the commission had violated the Open Meetings Act in coming to its decision.
Thursday’s hearing was a re-review of that complaint. It took place in a conference room on the second floor of Skokie Village Hall and was not live-streamed, broadcast or taped.
Before the board adjourned into a closed portion of the meeting, Johnson addressed the board regarding his complaint.
“As a member of the Village Board, I am telling you we need your help,” he said. “Our village legal department is rife with political conflicts of interest, and members of the Village Board are complicit.
Johnson alleged that Van Dusen, a member of the Skokie Caucus Party, and Lorge, a former vice-chair of the party, worked together to prevent the three form-of-government referenda from coming before voters by placing three referendum questions about environmental sustainability on the ballot instead. The limit for ballot questions is three, so if three questions appear on a ballot, no more can be added.
Van Dusen ultimately withdrew the environmental sustainability referenda, thereby allowing the form-of-government referenda to appear on the ballot. All three passed, authorizing staggered elections, non-partisan elections and the election of trustees by geographic sections as well as at-large trustees.
Johnson said he had asked Lorge about his involvement in the abandoned referenda during an executive session meeting in January 2023 and said Lorge had denied personal involvement in the process but said “one of his Assistant Corporation Counsels had helped Mayor Van Dusen develop and draft the resolutions.”
Johnson said he believed Lorge was referring to Assistant Corporation Counsel Jim McCarthy, the current chair of the Skokie Caucus Party. Attorney James Ferolo asked Johnson to refrain from introducing new complaint material at the hearing to avoid triggering a new set of due process requirements.
“I believe there is more than sufficient evidence that Lorge and McCarthy’s outside political roles have clearly impaired their “independence of judgment or action in the performance of [their] official duties,” Johnson said.
Van Dusen has previously said Johnson’s complaint was “ludicrous.”
During the public comment portion of the meeting, former trustee Ilonka Ulrich said she was disappointed in the amount of public notice that the village provided prior to Johnson’s ethics complaint and subsequent meetings.
She said as a trustee, the village provided notice for even the most mundane zoning related issues: “a dispute about a mere fence was published, heard and documented,” she said, asking why “an allegation involving moral turpitude” hadn’t received the same treatment.
“If you do not conduct a public hearing for a public official in his capacity, what can the average Joe in Skokie do?” Ulrich asked before calling on the board to withdraw its conclusions and refer the case to outside counsel.
“You are appointed by the mayor and the mayor is the interested party,” Ulrich said, addressing the commission members.
Kimberly Polka, an organizer with the Skokie Alliance for Electoral Reform, which backed the three form-of-government referenda, said it is to be expected that those in public service have a party affiliation but said “it looks like there is no line between the Skokie Caucus Party and our government.”
“Where is the line?” Polka asked.
After the commission delivered its verdict, Johnson asked that the written version of the decision include information about how to appeal the decision and asked if he could ask a round of follow-up questions.
Ferolo told him he could not.
“We have been very generous to you,” Minkus said. “We’ve heard you, we’ve listened to you, we really did listen to you.”
“Denied further due process,” Ulrich said, heading out of the room with her coat.
After the hearing ended, Johnson told Pioneer Press he would consider appealing the decision and planned to continue advocating for changes to the village’s legal department.
