DuPage County, IL -
The executive director of the DuPage County Election Commission on Tuesday ended his royalty agreement with a Wheaton company that sells election equipment used in the county after County Board Chairman Robert Schillerstrom asked the state’s attorney’s office to review the deal.
Bob Saar shares the patent on a computer program called AskED, which helps election judges address voters’ problems and questions on Election Day. Until Tuesday, Saar said he received a percentage in the “low single digits” when the software is sold outside of Illinois.
DuPage was the first jurisdiction to use the program, which was born out of a conversation Saar had with David Davoust, who runs the Wheaton-based Robis Elections. Questions have arisen about whether Saar properly disclosed his ties to the company.
Davoust said Saar was not involved in any of the software development and does not have any ties to the company other than the “token royalty” he was receiving.
Saar said he ended the agreement after learning of Schillerstrom’s decision because “it’s a distraction.”
“I have no idea what the chairman was doing,” Saar said. “I’m first and foremost director of elections here in DuPage County.”
Schillerstrom said he asked the state’s attorney to look into the deal to make sure there was no conflict of interest.
“I’m going to just request him to look into if there’s any problem with what went on there,” Schillerstrom said.
Wheaton attorney Patrick Bond, who serves as counsel for the Election Commission, has issued a legal opinion stating that there is no conflict of interest in the arrangement, because Saar does not receive money from the DuPage contract.
“That is the only opinion we have on it,” Schillerstrom said. “I’ve seen Pat Bond’s work in the past and I think he knows what he’s doing.”
Robis sells laptops and hand-held computers equipped with the AskED software, and the Election Commission has paid more than $500,000 for those products since 2005.
The company uses an account of DuPage County’s experience with the software and a quotation from Saar to promote the product on its Web site.
Saar said in an interview that he came up with the idea for AskEd after reading about similar programs that are used by medical professionals in rural America and developing countries to diagnose complex conditions.
Glen Ellyn resident Jean Kaczmarek, co-chairwoman of the Illinois Ballot Integrity Project, brought the issue forward at Tuesday’s County Board meeting.
“According to Mr. Saar, the Election Commission and legal counsel were aware of his role with the AskED,” Kaczmarek said during the public comment portion of the meeting. “The Election Commission and their legal counsel may be fine with it, but citizens of DuPage County are not fine with it. Soon we’ll learn if the leaders of DuPage County are fine with it.”
Kaczmarek’s group has criticized Saar and the Election Commission about numerous issues during the past few years, but Saar has dismissed many of those criticisms as politically motivated attacks.
County Board member Jim Zay, R-6th District, of Carol Stream said Saar owes an explanation of his ties to Robis.
“I think members of this board ... when there’s a conflict of interest, or even a possibility, we step out and recuse ourselves,” Zay said. “We take great time in making sure that everything is disclosed on any kind of business that’s done for the county.”
He asked Schillerstrom to have to state’s attorney’s office review the matter and report its findings to the board.
http://www.mysuburbanlife.com/lombard/news/x497789261/Election-official-ends-business-deal-with-local-firm
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