City hopes Richards ethics complaint to receive swift outside review

Posted on October 4, 2018

By Howard Packowitz

BLOOMINGTON – Bloomington’s city attorney is hoping for a speedy outside review of the ethics complaint against Nikita Richards, who’s the Democratic candidate for McLean County Clerk.

City Attorney Jeff Jurgens said the city government hired John Redlingshafer of Washington, Illinois’ Mescher Law Firm, who charges an rate of $190 an hour.

Bloomington resident Kevin Gerrard listed several charges in an ethics complaint he filed against Richards, including shopping online and working on her campaign while she was on the job as an employee in the city’s human resources department.

City Manager Tim Gleason said an internal investigation found no wrongdoing, but asked for an outside review because complaints against Richards have persisted and it’s become a political matter.

A special prosecutor from the State’s Attorney’s Appellate Prosecutor’s office is investigating allegations that Richards’ Republican opponent, Kathy Michael, performed political work on a county-owned laptop, and tried to hide the evidence by damaging the computer.

The election is November 6.

Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]

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