Joliet City Councilman, Pat Mudron, has been found guilty of violating state law and code of ethics. The councilman has been using his position to generate a greater income for his insurance business, Mudron Kane. In April of 2015, Pat Mudron was elected as the District 2 City Councilman. This chair is both his first and last political position as Mudron violated not only Joliet’s code of ethics but Illinois state law as well. As councilman, principal of Mudron Kane Insurance and liaison of the Rialto Theater, it is a conflict of interest for his business to provide any kind of insurance to the Joliet Area Historical Museum (JAHM). According to investigative reports, Mudron Kane had been the insurance provider to JAHM for at least three years. By obtaining a no-bid contract of $248,000 with the Rialto Theater, the two-term councilman violated the city’s code of ethics. For those who may not know, a no-bid contract is a military or government contract made directly with a corporation, ignoring the standard process of bidding. No-bid contracts can be finalized much faster than a normal contract, although they do not often evade some sort of suspicion.
Councilman Mudron is not the only person affected by this violation though. The Rialto’s board chairman, Bob Filotto, admitted that the theater was in financial trouble as their insurance premium rates rose. Filotto sent the Joliet Patch a short statement that read: “The only comment I would have is that the action I took, later ratified unanimously by the Rialto authority board, saved the Rialto several hundred thousand dollars. I am thankful that Mudron Kane was able to help us secure this policy just days before our precious insurance policy expired.” Filotto had viewed the situation with insurance as an emergency, which led to his belief that he had the authority to sign the contract without the board’s approval.
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