The State Journal-Register reported on Sangamon County Board Chairman Andy Van Meter's new appointments to the Springfield Metro Sanitary District Board. Previous appointments were part of a patronage sharing agreement between the two parties and presumably the new application process is meant to open up appointments beyond those cashing in on political favors.
With that in mind I decided to look up the political contribution history of the appointees at the Illinois Board of Elections website. When I've done this in the past it was rare to find an appointee or county contractor who hadn't donated to one party or the other.
Has the new application process changed things? Not at all.
One gave large donations to Davlin, Libri, Hasara and others.
One appointee made major contributions to several state and local Democrats including $500 to Tim Timoney's political fund.
At first I didn't find anything on John Pasko other than old donations to Al Salvi and George Ryan (plus a few other contributions by his business) until I discovered that he was the immediate past President of IMSCAPAC, which is a political PAC that represents the "Mechanical Service Industry." IMSCAPAC is a prolific donor giving to both parties across the state including local Republicans Poe and Brauer.
The Board of Elections website doesn't allow links to specific search results but you can find the same information I found by searching for the names and committees. Of course, its always possible that these donations are from someone else who happens to have the same name and lives in Springfield.
Its unfortunate that after all of this controversy Van Meter couldn't find one qualified person who doesn't have strong political ties. At the least it gives the impression that the patronage sharing agreement and pay-to-play politics continue at the county despite the dog-and-pony show of an application process. Perhaps the application should say, "Non-political donors need not apply."
This took me less than 10 minutes of research so there's probably more to find. I don't know why it wasn't mentioned in the news article. They could have at least asked Van Meter to explain himself.