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Testimonial Affidavit

I, Cathy Lynne Santos, represent and warrant that the following statements are factually correct and represent my true opinion and experience to the best of my knowledge and recollection:

“From February 1, 2002 through June 30, 2002, I was under contract, an employee of the Treasurer’s Office {name withheld for purposes of this Affidavit] called me into a private office on the 4th Floor of the Treasurer’s Office in Chicago’s Thompson Center. The sole purpose of that meeting was to ask for my help with fundraising for the Treasurer’s 2002 Campaign. He stated that since his office was in Springfield, he needed someone in the Chicago office to be his point person for fundraising and assist with organizing/following-up with fundraising events. He further stated that Judy Baar Topinka needed to get re-elected and we needed to raise the funds necessary to accomplish that.

Subsequent to that first meeting, I was approached several times from several different employees [names withheld for purposes of this Affidavit] to help them out with their fundraising requirements. I was told that Nancy Kimme, the Treasurer’s Chief of Staff, kept track of these types of things and needed to be sure she (Nancy Kimme) knew they were doing their part.

I personally witnessed on several occasions, pressure being put upon the Treasurer’s employees to participate in get-out-the-vote activities. For example, one employee [name withheld for purposes of this Affidavit] was approaching other employees at the Treasurer’s Office during business hours and getting them assigned to their required weekday(s) each week during the election sseason to phonebank at the Treasurer’s Chicago Campaign Office at 32 W. Randolph Street, 16th Floor. An employee asking me to phonebank at the Chicago Campaign Office personally approached me at the Treasurer’s Office, on more than one occasion. I immediately stopped those conversations.

On or about March 1, 2002, during a conversation with a fellow employee [name withheld for purposes of this Affidavit] I was told that he and another employee from the Treasurer’s Office would be in Riverside that following Monday (during business hours) putting up Blagojevich Campaign signs in Riverside as part of a deal that was made between the two campaigns. When I asked this employee if the Treasurer knew about this, he pointed his finger in the air in an upward motion and said that it came from above. The same employee further stated that Nancy Kimme had approved the activity.

On June 28, 2002, I arrived at the Treasurer’s Office to tie up loose ends, finish my final reports and say my good-byes to the staff, as it was the last day of my contract. I soon realized that the majority of the employees were not in the office. Upon inquiry, the switchboard operator told me that something was going on as no one came into work that morning. Before lunch that day, a call was transferred to my desk and the caller identified himself as [name withheld for purposes of this Affidavit] with Channel 7 and was calling to substantiate a tip he had received that employees from the Treasurer’s Office were at the Illinois Board of Elections working on a petition challenge during normal business hours. Late that same afternoon several employees that were absent all day came back to the Treasurer’s office, I asked more than one individual where they had been, and was told that specific employees had been directed by Nancy Kimme to go to the Board of Elections and assist with the petition challenge to get the Libertarian candidate off the ballot for the General Election.

Employees personally told me that they were told to use their vacation time for certain get-out-the-vote activities. Other told me that they would get comp time. Comp time was explained to me as : if they worked the weekend, or in some cases in the evening hours, doing get-out-the-vote activities, they could take an “in the field” day during the week.

I understand that these allegations are serious and am conscious of the repercussions of making these allegations public. My purpose in preparing this is to better substantiate the serious concerns I have, and which I have verbally brought to the attention of several Republican Party Leaders, and my hop that this matter may be handled internally within out Party.

I purposely withheld certain names of employees to protect the integrity of possible future litigation. I also purposely withheld names of certain employees at this time as I feel that they should not be the focus of, and not substantially relevant to the purpose of this Affidavit.

I have also not disclosed all activities of concern that came to my attention during my term at the Treasurer’s Office, and instead chose to highlight only a few examples at this time.”

Dated this 23rd day of November 2002.

Signed:

/s/ Cathy Lynn Santos
Cathy Lynne Santos

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