Sangamon Sun

Before becoming Illinois' Auditor General, Frank Mautino paid Harry the handyman $7,990 in campaign cash, according to the Edgar County Watchdogs (ECW), a government oversight organization.

Mautino has come under fire for a pattern of suspicious spending stretching back to the 1990s, which includes more than $213,000 to a service station for repairs from 2005 to 2015 and more than $200,000 in checks to Spring Valley City Bank. The checks were allegedly a means for the campaign to get cash for some payments, but no receipts have been made available. 

The only record of how the cash was spent is the memo lines of some of the checks.

In reviewing those memo lines, the ECW said it found repeat payments to some people, including someone named Harry, ostensibly a handyman who made repairs for the campaign. He received cash every year from 2011 to 2015, in amounts ranging from $750 to $2,450.

"It should be noted that not only has our Auditor General pled the fifth, he has refused to answer a single question from his employers, the General Assembly," the ECW posted on its Illinois Leaks website. "I think our readers get the point by now so no need to write further about Peter, Al, and Willie who were also being cited in the memo section of checks cashed by Frank Mautino."