Ex-toll chief takes pass on job with highway contractor
The former executive director of the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority is walking away from a job opportunity with an engineering firm that did millions of dollars of business with the agency in the wake of ethics challenges.
Brian McPartlin had planned to work for McDonough Associates after leaving the tollway Oct. 24 and had filed for a waiver with the Illinois Ethics Commission.
Illinois law prohibits former state employees up to one year after leaving their jobs from working for companies that received government contracts under their watch. McDonough garnered about $30 million in contracts from the tollway.
State workers can ask for exemptions from the ethics commission, which are normally granted, but Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan intervened in the matter. On Dec. 5, she filed an objection stating that McDonough was clearly involved in transactions with McDonough Associates and had no grounds for receiving a waiver.
McPartlin on Friday withdrew from the process, officials said.
In his application to the commission, McPartlin had said he had nominal involvement with contracts and recused himself from any dealings with McDonough business after speaking with the firm about working there.
When he announced his resignation in September, McPartlin, a former school board member from Mount Prospect who once worked for President Clinton as an aide, said he was confident of receiving the waiver. He said he needed the private sector job because his $189,000 tollway salary was not sufficient to pay for his children's college education.
In his letter to the ethics commission Friday, McPartlin simply states he "no longer intends to enter the employment of McDonough Associates Inc."
Madigan's spokeswoman Robyn Ziegler said the week's events had underscored the need for adherence to ethics laws, referring to the arrest of Gov. Rod Blagojevich on corruption charges by federal authorities.
"We will continue to closely examine any waiver requests filed with the state's ethics commission," Ziegler said Saturday.
McPartlin told tollway Chairman John Mitola in June he planned to leave the agency, according to his petition. He executed a contract with McDonough for $592,000 on July 17. A week later, on July 23 he spoke with McDonough staff about a job opening. On July 28, McPartlin asked Chief of Staff Dawn Catuara to take care of a $1.4 million McDonough deal, explaining he had to recuse himself because of the possibility of employment there. On Aug. 1, McPartlin met with McDonough president Feroz Nathani, himself a former Illinois Department of Transportation employee. McPartlin was offered a job with the firm Sept. 3.
A message left with McPartlin's attorney was not returned.