Jean Kaczmarek
DuPage County Clerk Jean Kaczmarek wants to be represented by a private attorney in a lawsuit the county has filed against her because of a dispute about bills.
On Monday, she formally asked a DuPage judge to appoint Chicago attorney Ed Mullen to represent her.
The DuPage County state’s attorney’s office last week filed the lawsuit that claims Kaczmarek is breaking state law because she has refused to indicate from where in her budget a bill should be paid when the dedicated budget line item does not have enough money to cover a bill’s payment.
Kaczmarek’s request for a private attorney comes days after DuPage County State’s Attorney Bob Berlin filed a motion requesting that a special state’s attorney be appointed to represent the clerk since his office cannot represent both her and the county in the legal dispute.
In his motion, Berlin notes the chief judge has the authority to determine who will represent Kaczmarek’s office and can ask the state attorney general’s office or another state’s attorney’s office to represent her.
As of Tuesday, no attorney has been chosen to represent Kaczmarek. However, Paul Darrah, a spokesman for the state’s attorney’s office, said the chief judge has sent letters of inquiry to other state’s attorney’s offices.
Bob Berlin
In a motion filed on Monday, Kaczmarek requested that Mullen be appointed to represent her. Mullen said in the motion that the court should appoint “competent counsel” for the clerk.
According to Mullen, Kaczmarek didn’t know about the lawsuit until the news media contacted her for comment.
Despite receiving a “courtesy copy” of the lawsuit, Kaczmarek was not served officially until Monday — five days after the lawsuit was filed, according to Mullen.
Darrah said the state’s attorney will respond to the clerk’s motion.
Darrah said if an attorney from another state agency is appointed to represent Kaczmarek, the county would only need to pay for any travel or other case-related expenses. If a private attorney is selected, the county would have to pay for that lawyer’s salary along with any case-related expenses.
Adam Johnson, the chief deputy clerk, said there was “no promise of payment” to Mullen for filing the motion and that he has not received any payment.
The motion outlines Mullen’s experience, which includes representing various government agencies and elected officials.
The county board and clerk have been at odds over bill payments and budgets for over a year. In August, the county auditor reported $142,823 in unpaid bills.
Kaczmarek has maintained she is working within her legal authority. She says the county cannot dictate her spending through line item restrictions.
But county officials say they cannot pull money from a line item without direction from the clerk’s office.