O'Connor and the ward organization he chairs, the 40th Ward Regular Democratic Organization, were cited in a complaint filed on August 31, 2005 with the Illinois State Board of Elections by the Cook County Republican Party. The complaints charged that sixteen Democratic Party ward organizations are illegally housed in City-funded neighborhood ward offices. Taxpayers fund aldermanic service centers, which are open to the public. State law prohibits the use of public funds by any candidate for political or campaign purposes. The complaint against O'Connor and his ward organization was one of nine that a Hearing Officer appointed by the Board recommended proceed to the next step of the hearing process, an Open Preliminary Hearing. On October 17, 2005, at a regularly scheduled meeting, the Board entered an executive session and voted, in a 4-4 tie, along strict party lines, failing to adopt the recommendation of the Hearing Officer, and ordered the complaints dismissed. The complaint against O'Connor and his ward organization was one of eight that the Cook County Republican Party appealed all the way to the Illinois Supreme Court. On January 23, 2009, the Illinois Supreme Court unanimously ordered the Illinois appellate court to conduct a judicial review of the Board's dismissals of the complaints. On December 19, 2009, the First District of the Illinois appellate court affirmed the Illinois State Board of Elections' dismissal of the complaints.