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WHEATON, Ill. - The DuPage County Board voted to censure the County Clerk Jean Kaczmarek, accusing her of financial mismanagement of her department which has resulted in a lawsuit that’s cost taxpayers nearly $200,000 in legal fees.
What we know:
The board voted overwhelmingly, 15-1, to approve the censure at its meeting on Tuesday, according to county records.
"Good governance is not optional. It is the foundation of public trust," said County Board Chair Deborah Conroy in a statement. "Every elected official has a responsibility to follow the law and manage their office responsibly. We are tasked to work together to solve problems, not create them. When an elected official will not do those things, it undermines the confidence our residents have in our institution. The Board took a necessary step today to protect the integrity of DuPage County."
Members pushed for the censure resolution, which is largely symbolic, after Kaczmarek "repeatedly refused to comply" with the board’s system of accounting and "obstructed lawful financial oversight," according to a news release.
Specifically, the board made multiple allegations against the clerk in its press release:
- Clerk Kaczmarek has failed to adhere to County accounting principles.
- Many purchases made by the Clerk lack essential financial documentation, including contracts or invoices.
- This has resulted in vendors being delayed in payment.
- Because Clerk Kaczmarek does not adhere to County accounting principles, the County filed suit against the Clerk. This lawsuit has resulted in nearly $200,000 in legal fees.
- Over the last five years, the Clerk has raised salaries in her office by more than 40%.
- Kaczmarek has consistently declined to meet with County Finance staff to discuss her office’s finances.
- The Clerk’s Office has a significant shortfall in the FY2025 budget and refuses to perform budget transfers to ensure vendors can be paid.
The other side:
Kaczmarek responded to the censure in a statement to Fox 32:
"This meaningless political stunt is simply a distraction from the County Board’s shameful underfunding of elections. I will keep fighting to continue delivering DuPage County voters the best run and most accessible elections in the state."
Kaczmarek’s office is in charge of running the election process in DuPage County, including hiring poll workers for early voting and Election Day. Earlier this month, her office accused the County Board of underfunding its election operation. She requested more than $12.5 million for her budget in fiscal year 2026, but the board only approved a little less than $9 million, according to the clerk’s office. She claimed the allocated amount is "millions short of the office’s requirements for election necessities such as postage, printing, and operating supplies."
But in a statement, Conroy called Kaczmarek’s numbers "incredibly misleading" and said the budgeted amount was based on prior years’ budgets. She said the nearly $9 million allocation for 2026 was actually a 17% increase compared to the last year in which there was a gubernatorial election, which would have been 2022, and it’s "the largest budget we’ve ever given to the Clerk’s Office in a non-presidential election year."
Non-presidential elections tend to see much lower turnout rates nationwide.
Conroy added that the clerk did not provide justification for her $12.5 million request, which would have been a 63.5% increase in the clerk’s office’s budget.
"I know the importance of running an election and there’s nothing I would ever do to jeopardize that," Conroy said. "But the budget we have provided the Clerk is anything but ‘cheap.’ Clearly, the people running the Clerk’s Office have no understanding of what it takes to prepare a budget or effectively run an office."