A favorite topic among Chicago mayoral candidates is to dog anyone running for two offices at once. Everyone knows who they mean this time around: Alexi Giannoulias, who is running for mayor of Chicago and secretary of state simultaneously.
Hedging your bets is one thing. But what of elected officials who actually hold two separate offices at the same time? Wouldn’t that be even more problematic?
Yes. And Illinois is riddled with such examples.
First up, Harry Benton.
The disgraced former state representative held his job as a state lawmaker while also serving as the Wheatland Township highway commissioner, a job from which he has not yet resigned, despite the township board passing a resolution in July calling on him to step down. This one’s particularly interesting, because as Township Supervisor Michael Crowner said in an email to us, the board can’t remove him. Benton earns $72,000 a year, with health benefits, in this post. His pay as a state lawmaker was about $96,000. Benton resigned his post in the General Assembly in July amid allegations of sexual misconduct.
Speaking of state lawmakers who moonlight as local officials, we can’t leave off Thaddeus Jones, mayor of Calumet City and a Democratic state lawmaker. After concerns were raised about some of Jones’ spending habits, WGN Investigates this April reviewed his Calumet City credit card transaction history, and alleged, among other things, a total of more than $35,000 spent at restaurants, including Chicago Cut Steakhouse and Hooters. Records also showed he paid over $17,000 for a trip to Washington, D.C., as well as excursions to Las Vegas, Miami and Colorado Springs, Colorado. Jones brings in about $225,000 in salary from his two elected offices.
There’s also state Rep. Brad Stephens, R-Rosemont, who is also the mayor of his hometown, a position he has held since 2007. He succeeded his father, Donald, who held the post for nearly 50 years, during which time he faced two federal trials for bribery and fraud, and was acquitted both times. Still, Rosemont has a long history of corruption allegations and controversies.
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We cannot forget Tiffany Henyard. The former embattled mayor of Dolton and Thornton Township supervisor may have packed up and headed to Fulton County, Georgia, but for many years she held two taxpayer-funded jobs here. To say that didn’t go well is an understatement. Unofficially dubbed “the worst mayor in America,” she faced plenty of scrutiny during her tenure in Illinois, including an FBI investigation examining allegations of financial mismanagement and possible misuse of public funds. She spent lavishly on travel and questionable contracts, and took her village’s general fund from a $5.6 million surplus in April 2022 to a $3.6 million deficit by May 2024, according to an investigation headed by former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
See the trend?
We smell a correlation between how many public offices a person holds and his or her proximity to trouble.
It’s hard to see how state lawmakers, especially, can reasonably hold two public posts at the same time. Yes, it’s technically a part-time gig, but the pay is not and neither is the workload. Not to mention that state lawmakers preside over decisions such as how to distribute funds to local governments.
Illinois already has some rules around what types of roles public officials can hold simultaneously, with limits such as mayors not being able to hold other offices in the same municipality. Judges are barred from holding multiple offices while on the bench.
The guiding principle in these rules is incompatibility: If holding two public offices presents an insurmountable conflict, no can do. Quite right too.
But to our minds in Illinois, there are plenty of incompatibilities that the current rules do not catch.
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