Meet Jerry and Kyley Willison. They’re the father-and-son team that stole $225,000 dollars from taxpayers of the Oakland Fire Protection District (FPD). Oakland is a very small community in Coles County near Charleston, Illinois. The population is about 900 people, and at the time of the theft, both Jerry and Kyley Willison were Oakland FPD trustees.
The Edgar County Watchdogs broke the story and did the preliminary investigation before authorities took over. The Watchdogs wrote that “During the initial criminal investigation interview, Kyley admitted his use of the credit card was for “everyday living expenses”. This is obvious and egregious misuse of tax money and of a felony amount, but nobody went to jail.
For those who have given up on local government accountability, rest assured your voice matters. After a single tip back in 2023 and one Freedom of Information Act request to the Oakland Fire Protection District, we uncovered the criminal conduct of the father and son duo who were trustees at the time. One of those trustees during that crime spree was the wife of Kyley Willison. While she was never charged, her husband was convicted of his crimes last year. The entire board resigned after receiving our FOIA request, and here we are over three years later, and another guilty plea was obtained. Numerous articles on this matter can be found at this link.
The former Oakland Fire Protection District Trustee, Jerry Willison, has pled guilty to 1 count of Official Misconduct, a Class 3 Felony, in exchange for the dropping of his other 6 felony charges.
Deft is placed on 24 monts of Second Chance Probation, pay a fine of $500 plus costs and assessments as pursuant to the FSO, 100 hrs community service, with 50 hrs to be completed within the first yearr, 180 days in jail, all stayed, the Deft is not to possess any firearm or dangerous weapons, and subject to random drug testing no less than 3 times during the period of probation, the Deft is to not hold any elected or public office position during probation. By agreement, counts I-V, and VII are dismissed.”
Not quite the laughing matter he tried to make it out to be, as shared in this article.
…As it relates to the Oakland Fire Protection District, Kyley Willison was ordered to pay over $225,000 in restitution, whereas his father appears to have gotten off rather easily in light of the Second Chance Probation placement. If he stays out of trouble during those 2 years, his record gets wiped clean.
Kyley Willison’s wife was involved, too. And his mother is the local assessor, and according to one article, it looks like their home is waaayyy underassessed. Read that article HERE.
David Greising is the president of the Better Government Association (BGA). He wrote an opinion article published in the Chicago Tribune called “Illinois House speaker’s only way out of latest government scandal is through ethics reform”. Greising suggests a way forward for the now-embattled Illinois Speaker of the House to clean up ethics problems in the wake of the Harry Benton scandal. Harry Benton resigned over the findings by a legislative ethics commission that he sexually harassed a staff member. Speaker Chris Welch is in trouble for letting that situation fester for three years while knowing about the harassment.
Also, under Welch’s watch, State Rep. Carol Ammons was just indicted by a federal grand jury on multiple counts of fraud, among other charges. She allegedly asked for and received kickbacks from non-profits that she had directed taxpayer funds to go to. Welch himself is in power now because his predecessor, Mike Madigan, was convicted of fraud and sent to federal prison, where he is about 10 months in on a 7.5-year sentence.
Yes, we have a corruption problem in Illinois.
Greising in his op-ed opines that what the state needs is just a few more laws on the books. He insinuates that these new laws and oversight panels will alleviate much of the corruption. But Greising completely ignores the public corruption that abounds across the state at the local levels and that is as big a problem as the sexual harassment Benton was found to have done.
Greising wrote, “The BGA issued a comprehensive list of reforms, based on best practices from around the nation…Many of the proposals focused on independent oversight of the General Assembly by the legislative inspector general…” Greising’s other big idea was “a two-year cooling-off period before a former member could lobby the legislature.”
As I noted, he misses the point entirely and for the most part has no idea what is really happening when it comes to corruption in Illinois.
There are already plenty of laws on the books to stop corruption, which Greising recognizes in his list of reforms linked above. And, specifically, sexual harassment has already proven to get those in public positions in trouble in Illinois – just ask Madigan operatives Tim Mapes and Kevin Quinn, or Lou Lang, who resigned simply based on the allegation of such.
And it’s already against the law for public officials to accept bribes.
Or a kickback.
Or promise taxpayer money for a job for a crony or relative.
Also, the above are all covered in mandatory ethics and sexual harassment training required of state legislators.
Greising’s reforms list includes adding tougher requirements on disclosing conflicts of interest and on lobbying as second jobs for elected officials. But IF the elected official were ethical, they would disclose conflicts, not vote on legislation for which they are conflicted, and not be cross-lobbying — and they would do this without being required to do so by some law. Plenty of lawmakers, by the way, are ethical and already recuse themselves from votes for which they feel there is a conflict. But if Greising thinks more laws are the answer, then okay – but add that elected officials should also be prohibited from holding two elected positions at the same time.
It’s also illegal to use taxpayer money for personal use, vote on items not posted on the agenda, or refuse to respond to FOIA requests.
But those happen ALL THE TIME in Illinois. And they are a problem.
In fact, much more corruption happens at the county, township, city, village, and school district levels of government than most people realize, as I noted in my opening story of the Willison family of Oakland. Or just Google Tiffany Henyard, former Mayor of Dolton and Thornton Township Supervisor. As far as I know, she’s still under federal indictment.
Greising appears to know little or maybe nothing about the work the Edgar County Watchdogs have been doing.
The Edgar County Watchdogs (ECWD) have been fighting corruption at all levels of government for over 15 years. To date their work has resulted in over 700 public officials leaving office after exposure of wrongdoing either by choosing not to run for office again, resigning from office, or being indicted. No other entity can claim similar success in ferreting out corruption and getting results.
he Watchdogs receive hundreds of tips and calls from concerned citizens around the state requesting their help in fighting corruption. It doesn’t matter how big or small the government entity is, their work usually begins by using the Freedom of Information Act and Open Meetings Act to determine what’s going on. Usually, the first FOIA will tell them if something is amiss. (Unfortunately, when it comes to the legislature, much of what they do is not subject to either FOIA or OMA.)
It is often the case that public corruption in Illinois is only prosecuted by federal officials, like State Rep Carol Ammons’ latest federal indictment for fraud. It is also often the case that serious crimes go unpunished. How can the Willisons steal $225,000 and not be in prison?
The system itself is corrupt.
If Greising and the BGA are serious about ethics reform, the most important thing they can advocate for is stronger sentences for those who are found to have violated the public’s trust while serving in elected office, holding a public job, or defrauding the government.
The failures to fully prosecute public corruption, not prosecute at all, or slow-walk prosecutions are systemic problems.
Here are a few stories from the Edgar County Watchdogs that illustrate the problem:
1. Colchester Fire Protection District Chief and Assistant Chief Resign after Financial Concerns Exposed – Members Call for Board President to Resign – The Chief and Assistant Chief are brothers. The Chief is also the McDonough County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy. The Board President is the stepfather to the now-former Chief and Assistant Chief. In question are the possible misuse of public funds and suspicious payments to cover that misuse. This is an ongoing story.
2. Laws Why Have Them – Douglas County – In this case the Murdock Township highway road commissioner is holding office in Douglas County while residing in Coles County according to the Watchdogs after a thorough investigation of voting and property records. This is a violation of law and cause for immediate removal from office. The states attorney has had the information for 10 months but there has been no action taken in a case where the facts are easily determined. This is an ongoing story.
3. St. Clair County Veterans Assistance Commission hiding financial information. The Watchdogs filed FOIA requests for “bank statements of the VAC’s “private checking account” since February 1, 2025.This request for public records was sent on July 29, 2026, and the VAC was required to respond within five business days, which would have been no later than August 5, 2026, if the day it was sent is not counted.” They ignored the request. But within 3.5 hours of publishing an article about the denied FOIA and filing a Request for Review with the AG’s office, the VAC’s attorney provided the records requested. The VAC has numerous other possible violations of misusing public funds. The VAC superintendent has a salary greater than other county-wide officeholders with important jobs. He makes $143,000. Read also here. This is an ongoing story.
Nepotism, ignoring laws on FOIA and OMA, slow or no prosecution, violating laws regarding what public money can be used for are big problems in Illinois.
The Chicago Tribune is out today with their latest editorial on ethics in the situation over sexual harassment. They ask the question, “Why don’t women in Springfield feel safe coming forward with serious harassment concerns?” And they answer it, in part, with, “The problem, in other words, may not be that employees lack somewhere to go, but that they don’t sufficiently trust what will happen to them once they go there. Employees at good private-sector companies can take a harassment complaint to human resources without fear of losing their job. Clearly, Springfield needs something like that. As distinct from another open-ended exercise in brainstorming ideas.”
Oh – we just need a consolidated HR department – nope.
In the editorial they also added this:
“It takes all of us to change a culture,” Welch said in an Aug. 5 interview with Capitol News Illinois. “Everyone that sees something should say something. We should have an environment where people are comfortable to say something, and it’s not going to be fixed by one person alone.”
Well, Welch should look in the mirror. He’s created a culture where every decision is a power play and possible threat to his authority. The fact that he won’t allow actual bi-partisan legislation to be considered for a vote proves that point. His rule is no bill goes up for a vote without 60 Democrat votes.
Welch is the problem. And he needs to go.
To all of the corruption, there is an easier solution – elect ethical people. And if you find out that they have broken that trust, expose them and force them out of office.