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DuPage Co. Board chairman hopefuls lob accusations of waste

It may be hard to campaign on a platform of eliminating government waste if the candidate earned $3,000 to lead a committee that met for less than 10 hours during the course of a year.

That's the accusation state Sen. Carole Pankau leveled against one of her three opponents in the race for the GOP DuPage County Board chairman nomination in the Feb. 2 primary. The problem is, it's inaccurate.

Pankau sent out a news release calling county board member Debra Olson "fiscally irresponsible" for padding her county board salary with the committee chairman's stipend.

The board, however, eliminated such stipends for most committee chairman posts two years ago. And although Olson still is entitled to the $3,000, she has refused it along with a pay raise that went into effect in 2006, making her one of two county board members, along with Grant Eckhoff, earning $48,620 a year for the job.

Five board members receive annual salaries of $51,581, and 11 receive $50,079, according to the county's human resources department.

"Carole is running a campaign on lies and distortions," Olson said. "It's a shame. She continues to send a barrage of press releases that are false or distorted, and her actions absolutely show the kind of leader she truly is."

For her part, Pankau - who earns a base salary of $67,836 and an extra $10,327 stipend for acting as minority spokesman for a Senate committee - said she remains concerned that so little time is being taken during county board committee hearings to debate the millions of dollars worth of public works contracts the county approves. She believes she earns her Senate stipend for the amount of work she puts in on that committee and others.

"All of the work is done in committee in Springfield," Pankau said. "We spend six times the amount of time in committee that we do on the floor, and I guess I assumed that the same thing happened at the county board. So why did that committee only spend 10 hours working in 11 months if that's where all the work is done?"

Olson contends she spends hours out of the committee working with staff and constituents on public works issues that aren't reflected in the committee minutes.

"The many, many hours I spend working on issues is far beyond any committee meeting schedule," Olson said. "Not to mention, we meet year round and I don't have my own personal office that's paid for by the state."

The chairman's salary also has been targeted in the race as the candidates look at ways to cut county costs. Olson is the only GOP chairman candidate who will have a vote on what the salary for that post will be when the eventual winner takes office.

The board is expected to vote later this year on the chairman's salary and the salaries of the six board seats up in the Nov. 2 general election.

Currently, the chairman receives almost $128,000 a year. All four GOP candidates believe that figure could be lowered, especially state Sen. Dan Cronin and Burr Ridge Mayor Gary Grasso, who support hiring a county administrator to handle the day-to-day operations of the county.

"The chairman's salary should be reduced, and the chief of staff position should be eliminated and the money from that should go to find a salary for a county administrator who would be responsible to the whole board," Grasso said. "The chairman's salary seems a little high. It should be more than a county board member's, but less than six figures."

Cronin, who argues the county budget should have a contingency plan in case revenue shortfalls occur, outlined plans to create departmental service and head-count reductions during a news conference this week. He doesn't have faith in the county's current forecast of a 4 percent increase in sales tax revenue this year.

"I believe we will have to make some difficult decisions about cutting expenses and as we consider cutting expenses, salaries of the chairman and board members ought to be on the table," he said. "When fashioning a contingency plan, there are no sacred cows, though I think I have made it clear that public safety is a very, very important priority with me."

The winner of the Feb. 2 primary will face Democrat Carole Cheney in the Nov. 2 election.

By the numbersKey figures in the salary dispute among GOP candidates for DuPage County Board Chairman:$67,836: State Senate base salaries paid to Dan Cronin and Carole Pankau$48,620: DuPage County Board salary paid to Debra Olson$5,400: Annual salary of Gary Grasso for serving as Burr Ridge mayor$10,327: Stipend received by Cronin and Pankau for serving as minority spokesmen on state Senate committees$2,961: Amount of county board raise rejected by Olson$127,840: Current DuPage County Board Chairman's salary with $6,300 liquor commissioner stipend includedSource: Illinois State Comptroller's office, DuPage County, Village of Burr RidgeFalse301405Debra Olson False