Joliet Mayor Plans to Find a Replacement Chair on the City's Finance Committee

 This past week, the mayor of Joliet, Illinois, Bob O’Dekirk announced that a decision had been made regarding recent revelations about Pat Mudron. To recap, Pat Mudron is one of Joliet’s council members and the principal for his own insurance company, Mudron Kane. It was revealed last week that he had violated Joliet’s code of ethics and Illinois state law by using his position to generate more money for his company. By making no-bid contracts with the Rialto Theater and the Joliet Area Historical Museum, the councilman put himself in a bad position. 

According to John Ferak, a writer for Patch, “during the new business portion of the meeting, O'Dekirk remarked: ‘Let me get this out of the way. Councilman Mudron, in light of recent revelations that have come forward regarding some of the financial transactions that you made on behalf of your business with either government entities or with entities that get money from the city, I don't think it's proper at this point to keep you as chairman of the finance committee.’” The mayor did say that he would find someone else from the committee to take Mudron’s place.

Kwame Raoul, Illinois’ Attorney General, is said to be considering the pursuit of criminal charges against Mudron. Joliet’s Inspector General, attorney Sean Connolly, and Westmont private investigator, Martin Walsh were all instrumental in uncovering the truth about the councilman’s dealings. Walsh had prepared a 78-page report detailing everything about Pat Mudron’s abuse of power. The report also noted that the Rialto Theater is partially funded by the city of Joliet which means it is partially funded by taxpayers. Sean Connolly had made a point that the business of the people (of Joliet) must be “conducted in the open, especially when tax dollars are being used to fund a $248,000 contract, with an insurance agency in which a Joliet Councilman is a principal.”