Will County Gazette

The 2021 spring election season is almost over but DuPage Township Trustee Alyssia Benford says a smear campaign against her has only intensified as Tuesday's municipal election approaches. 

Benford, the Republican candidate for DuPage Township supervisor, alleges she’s the target of social media messaging that falsely says her accounting business is closed and under investigation.

Benford Brown and Associates is the largest black-owned female CPA firm in the U.S., according to Benford.

“My office has not been shut down," she said. "As a matter of fact, when the Bolingbrook police department was walking through the neighborhood checking on businesses, two officers asked to take a photo with me and I posted it.”

Benford’s opponent is DuPage Township Democrat vice-chair Gary Marschke.

But it is Bonnie Kurowski, according to Benford, who allegedly posted the falsehood under the Facebook group Bolingbrook Reporter along with a photo in which Benford’s office appears closed.

“My office closes at 5 p.m. and that's probably when the photo was taken,” Benford told the Will County Gazette. “It’s a political shenanigan because I'm sitting in my office right now talking on the phone."

Kurowski’s April 1 post states, “Tip: Alyssia’s office has been shut down because the Department of Financial and Professional Regulations has her under investigation. See letter from DPBR attached. We have been researching this tip and find it to be a possible truth.”

Benford added that she has not been informed of an investigation.

“Bonnie Kurowski is not a client of mine and I've never done any work for her so I don't even know how she would even have the standing to file a complaint against me,” Benford said. “Looking at the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation’s websites, it says all information collected by their office during an examination or an investigation is confidential and cannot be publicly disclosed.”

Kurowski declined to comment, stating in a Facebook email: "I will keep the story for myself."

Benford sizes up the allegation as fear. 

"They're afraid now because I have bipartisan support,” she said. “A former DuPage Township chairman who is a Democrat has openly endorsed me. My campaign is still gaining momentum despite their efforts to smear my name.”

Benford said she has never met Kurowski.

“She is a failed candidate for Bolingbrook mayor and now lives in Florida,” Benford said in an interview. “I don’t know her. My understanding is she ran for mayor 14 or 15 years ago.”

As previously reported by the Will County Gazette, Benford’s challenger Marschke is a former employee at the Office of Illinois State Treasurer who was accused of sexual harassment and other misconduct in Zielonka v. Topinka, a federal lawsuit.