By Hal Dardick, Chicago Tribune reporter
July 17, 2013
Cook County taxpayers are expected to end up shelling out
more than $500,000 to 11 people whom Assessor Joseph Berrios fired for unlawful
political reasons after his election in 2010.
The payments, which county commissioners will consider
Wednesday, represent the latest and costliest battle in Berrios' disagreement
with county ethics watchdogs over nepotism and patronage hiring.
Berrios, who doubles as county Democratic chairman, took over
as assessor in December 2010. The unabashedly old-school politician fired a
slew of employees and brought in his own team, which included his son, his
sister and a trusted lawyer from his previous job at the Board of Review.
Asked Tuesday about the case, Berrios said he thought the
workers he dismissed held policy positions for which it is permissible to hire,
promote and fire for political reasons. "I thought they were all at-will
employees," he said.
A federal court official assigned to monitor the assessor's
office as part of the long-running Shakman case, which bars taking politics
into account for most city and county hiring, saw it differently.
The court official recommended that 11 people be paid $1,000
to $95,000 as part of an agreement Berrios entered into centering on new
hiring, firing and promotion rules and regulations.
Although Clifford Meacham has yet to issue his formal report
on the payments, all are a result of "unlawful political
discrimination," according to the County Board agenda. Commissioner Peter
Silvestri, R-Elmwood Park, said the board is obligated to approve the payments.
"I'm troubled" by the amount, said Silvestri,
chairman of the board's Litigation Committee. "But I understand. I don't
want to accept it. But I have to."
Berrios said his goal is to get to "100 percent
compliance" with the new rules — something the monitor identified as a
ways off in a report released in February.
The assessor has clashed with county ethics officials, who
argue that Berrios has violated an ordinance that bars officials from hiring
relatives. Berrios maintains that as a separately elected countywide official,
he does not fall under the jurisdiction of County Board ethics laws. He also
has resisted the county inspector general's attempts to subpoena documents.
The dispute over the county's anti-nepotism laws surfaced
again this week when county Inspector General Patrick Blanchard revealed in a
report that county Recorder of Deeds Karen Yarbrough has hired her niece.
Although she isn't named, the Tribune determined she is Chloe Pedersen, who
makes $114,622 a year as legal and labor counsel.
Blanchard recommended the niece be fired, but Yarbrough said
the inspector general had no authority over her — the same argument Berrios has
made.
Yarbrough said her niece had "the best qualifications.
... I think most people recognize it's important to have someone you know and
trust as your legal counsel."
hdardick@tribune.com
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