Following a press conference Wednesday in which Madison County Board member Kelly Tracy announced a formal request for investigation, Madison County Treasurer Kurt Prenzler shifted blame for issues with a tax sale to the State’s Attorney’s Office.

Prenzler’s office sold the delinquent taxes of a home registered to Don Weber and his former wife, before the 2013 tax auction began, at an interest rate of 0 percent. According to state statue 35 ILCS 200/21-205, properties are to be sold only during the hours of the auction, separately and in consecutive order. The bidder, or a substitute bidder, is required to be present at the auction. An exception is made for municipalities with an interest in the property.

James Craney, who bought the delinquent taxes, told The Metro Independent on Sept. 26 that he did so before the auction, which he did not attend, and following the orders given to him by the Treasurer’s Office. Craney described Weber as his friend. Weber and Prenzler are political allies who have publicly supported each other on multiple occasions. Delinquent taxes on the same property have been sold at 18 and 2 percent in the past.

(See related: http://metroindependent.com/2014/09/27/madison-county-treasurer-may-have-broken-law-with-2013-tax-sale/8910/)

Madison County State’s Attorney Tom Gibbons, speaking to The Metro Independent on Sept. 26, called the law unequivocal.

“When the statute says something shall be done in a particular way, that’s what the law requires,” Gibbons said.

Prenzler, in a written statement that shifted between casting blame and defending the early sale because it was part of a “long-standing tradition in Madison County and other counties in the state,” said his office was simply following the opinion given to him by the State’s Attorney’s Office.

“My chief deputy, Jeremy Plank, and I met with John McGuire to plan, (sic) and approve every aspect of this tax sale. John McGuire is Assistant State’s Attorney who is chief of the civil division of the State’s Attorney’s office (sic). John McGuire said it was legal to do this,” The statement indicated.

Plank said he recalled meetings with McGuire and agreed with Prenzler’s assessment.

“We had multiple meetings with John McGuire. One was about the single buyer tradition,” Plank said. “He gave no objections to the process and gave us the green light to follow that procedure.”

In a written statement, Gibbons said that, because the conversation between Prenzler, Plank and McGuire is subject to attorney-client privilege, he can only address the subject matter made public by Prenzler. McGuire was asked by Prenzler if pre-sales of taxes were allowed, Gibbons said, Prenzler was advised not to conduct such a sale and McGuire left the meeting believing Prenzler would not.

“The statement by Mr. Prenzler indicating that he was advised by the State’s Attorney’s Office that it was legal for him to conduct a private, zero percent interest pre-sale of taxes to an individual is absolutely false,” Gibbons said.

This is not the first time Prenzler has blamed the State’s Attorney’s Office for issues with a tax sale. A lawsuit was filed after the 2012 tax sale because the necessary court order was not obtained prior to the sale. Prenzler said obtaining the court order is primarily the responsibility of Gibbons.

Prenzler obtained the order in 2011, but, according to a June 14, 2012 article in the Edwardsville Intelligencer, he told the Madison County Real Estate Tax Cycle Committee that the tradition of Madison County Treasurer’s obtaining the order was wrong.

“That is not proper, that’s not the way it is done in other counties,” Prenzler said. “Since I became treasurer I have done my best to discover bad practices, and this was not being done properly,” the Intelligencer quotes Prenzler as saying.

Wednesday, Prenzler defended the sale to Craney and two other non-municipal buyers who bought delinquent taxes for only one parcel before the auction began, by saying it was keeping with tradition.

“Permitting ‘single buyers’ to purchase taxes at zero percent on single parcels is a long-standing tradition in Madison County and other counties in the state,” Prenzler said.

According to the official website of the Madison County Treasurer, the tradition is no longer followed.

“Single buyers are welcome to participate in the sale, however they are required to wait to bid until the parcel is called in order,” the site reads.

Marleen Suarez, Prenzler’s opponent in the Nov. 4 election, gave no credence to Prenzler’s tradition argument.

“Tradition does not trump law,” Suarez said.

Gibbons said Prenzler’s statement at the beginning of the 2013 auction, in which he announced that no bids would be accepted before or after the auction, makes it clear that he was aware of the law. Gibbons also said it was Prenzler’s responsibility to know what is legally required of his office.

“As the duly-elected Treasurer, Mr. Prenzler is required to make himself aware of all applicable laws and rules related to the operations of his office,” Gibbons said. “Mr. Prenzler was fully aware that the statute had been reformed in direct response to the criminal conspiracy of Fred Bathon, and in an effort to prevent abuses from occurring again.”

For Tracy, the matter was very simple.

“He asked for the law, he campaigned on the law, then he broke the law. It’s really that easy,” Tracy said.

As he has on multiple past occasions, Prenzler claimed responsibility for the investigation that eventually led to Bathon pleading guilty for conducting illegal tax sale.

“I’m the one who blew the whistle on Fred Bathon’s criminal tax sales, and as the result (sic) Fred Bathon is in prison,” Prenzler said.

Tracy said she filed the request for an investigation after constituents came into her office, in response to a Metro Independent article about the tax sale, and asked her to take action so their voices could be heard.

Plank said the County Clerk’s office also bears some scrutiny if the tax sale was not legal. The assistant clerk was present at the sale, Plank said, and sign’s off on the beginning of the sale.

“They represent the clerk in their official capacity. They have to understand the law in the same way the clerk does,” Plank said. “If they had an objection, they would have had an obligation to tell their boss. You would have thought a Democrat, with a Republican treasurer, would have raised an objection.”

The law, as Plank understood it, he said, was followed by the Treasurer’s Office.

“It’s one thing if collusion was going on, but everything was done according to the letter of the law, as I understand it,” Plank said.

Madison County Clerk Debbie Ming-Mendoza said her office is present at the tax sales to document them, not to raise objections.

“We are not the treasurer’s legal counsel,” Ming-Mendoza said. “In my opinion, Mr. Plank is simply trying to deflect and defend his friend. He doesn’t know how the tax sales work.”

Plank, who stepped down as chief deputy treasurer earlier this year, and Prenzler said the allegations and the request for an investigation were politically motivated.

“This is a political witchhunt (sic),” Prenzler said. “There’s nothing here.”

Suarez who co-hosted the press conference with Tracy, questioned Prenzler’s definition of political.

“Why does he get to go to Belleville and make accusations on innuendo, and he denies it’s political, but when I lay out facts, it suddenly becomes political?” Suarez said.

Suarez was referencing a May 30 press conference in which Prenzler intimated, but stopped short of saying, St. Clair County Treasurer Charles Suarez conducted illegal tax sales.

(see previous stories: http://metroindependent.com/2014/06/04/prenzler-used-taxpayer-money-to-investigate-fellow-treasurer-says-part-of-duties/6828/ and http://metroindependent.com/2014/06/23/madison-county-treasurer-referred-for-investigation-calls-charges-political/7196/)

Marelleen Suarez called for Prenzler’s resignation.

“It would be for the good of Madison County for Mr. Prenzler to resign from office, and I’m calling for him to do that today,” Suarez said.