Former DuPage board member lobbies for new job

Former DuPage County Board member Yolanda Campuzano is lobbying her ex-colleagues for a job that wasn't in the county budget until she was voted out of office.

Several board members say Campuzano contacted them to express interest in applying for the newly created position of Ethnic Outreach Coordinator, a job that will pay between $47,000 and $48,000 a year. The post was added to the budget two weeks ago and approved by the board Nov. 25.

"She called and I talked to her vaguely about it," said Don Puchalski, Campuzano's former District 1 colleague. "I don't have a problem with her being on the county payroll if she's qualified."

An Addison resident, Campuzano was a Republican incumbent who was voted out of office Nov. 4 and replaced by Democrat Rita Gonzalez.

The new job hasn't been advertised yet. Board spokesman Jason Gerwig said it will be posted next week and there's no deadline for applications. The board has the final vote on filling the position, Gerwig said.

"We're still finalizing the actual position description," said Phil Smith, the county's director of community services who would oversee the person hired for the job. "It is intended to reach out to ethnic minorities, specifically the Hispanic and Latino folks in DuPage County."

Campuzano is the board's former health and human services chairwoman and speaks fluent Spanish.

Just a year ago, the county was facing the prospect of cutting about 200 jobs because of budgetary concerns. Those concerns were erased by adoption of a quarter-cent sales tax increase for the county.

County Democratic Party leaders and officials from government watchdog groups voiced skepticism about the timing of the job's addition to the budget, which Campuzano voted in favor of before leaving office.

"The fact the position was not in the budget until after the election combined with a former board member's name being widely promoted as a likely candidate for the position gives it an air that this is a patronage position," said Terry Pastika, director of the Citizens Advocacy Center in Elmhurst.

New board member and Democrat Tony Michelassi said he hadn't been contacted by Campuzano.

"If this were a job that was important to Yolanda I'm surprised she didn't push for it earlier," he said. "It sounds like an interesting idea because I do think the county needs to do more to reach out to minority communities."

Patrick O'Shea is chairman of the board's finance committee. He said the county's chief financial officer, Fred Backfield, asked him to add the post to the budget because the job met a need outlined in the county's strategic initiatives. The job was not included in Chairman Robert Schillerstrom's initial budget proposal.

"It sure doesn't look right adding it on after the fact," said District 4 board member J.R. McBride. "I know Yolanda, being the good public servant she was, sure wouldn't want it to look like that."