Urbana City Clerk Violated Ethics Laws for Campaign Ad

In mid-February the Urbana City Clerk, Phyllis Clark, released a video for her political campaign that was clearly produced within the Urbana City Building. The video includes numerous shots of Clark within the City Clerk’s Office and even utilized another City employee to participate in staging scenes.

Any use of government property for campaigning purposes is prohibited not just by the Illinois State Ethics Law, but by Urbana’s Ethics Ordinance. The Ordinance prohibits use of City property for campaign purposes, and also specifically prohibits directing City employees to participate in any campaign activities.

Phyllis Clark signed and stamped the Ethics Ordinance herself in 2004, and can be seen literally holding a copy of the Urbana City Code in her own campaign video. The City employee seen participating in the video is Wendy Hundley, the Assistant City Clerk. Hundley also serves as the Chair of the Rantoul Human Relations Commission and is currently running a campaign for the April 6, 2021 election to be a trustee for the Village of Rantoul. Both Clark and Hundley should be well aware of the various ethics and election laws that prohibit the use of public property and resources for campaigning.

Urbana’s Ethics Ordinance allows for a $750 fine for violations, but Urbana does not have a history of actually enforcing such rules.

It is unknown who created the video and how they got access to the inside of the City Building, which has been closed to visitors since March of 2020.