The need for reform at the tollway

As she was being introduced last week as the new board chairwoman of the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority, Paula Wolff promised to "keep everything clean as a whistle" and added that "we have a fiduciary responsibility to make sure all the people of Illinois get exactly what they should be getting."

We hope she is true to those words.

Certainly, new leadership at the toll highway authority is warranted. Wolff, the senior director of Metropolis 2020 and former president of Governor's State University, was appointed Thursday by Gov. Pat Quinn, who also appointed two new directors to the tollway board: Tom Weisner, the mayor of Aurora; and Bill Morris, former mayor of Waukegan and a former state senator and a member of the Citizens Utility Board.

There are many aspects to the tollway system for which the authority can be justifiably proud. While flawed in its enforcement procedures, the I-PASS system has been a huge advance that has greatly improved traffic flow. Needed highway reconstruction has made the roadways safer.

But the authority also has a long legacy of scandal and excess. As far as scandal, more than one tollway official has ended up in prison, And as far as excess, even Quinn joked during his announcement of Wolff's appointment that the headquarters in Downers Grove is a "Taj Mahal."

Meanwhile, anyone wondering about John Mitola's resignation as board chairman for "personal reasons" had only to pick up Saturday's Daily Herald to get a hint at what may have been pushing him out the door.

In it, reporters Joseph Ryan and Sheila Ahern revealed that Mitola and another appointee of disgraced former Gov. Rod Blagojevich led a real estate venture in Wheeling without ever disclosing the deal on state ethics reports, as required by law.

By leaving the Wheeling Station project off his disclosure statements, Mitola hid his financial interest in Wheeling, his relationship with business partner Michael Rumman (former state purchasing and contracting CEO) and his relationship with Rossi Contractors, a major construction company that boasts work for the tollway on its Web site. The conflicts of interest are substantial.

In the same edition, Ryan and Senior State Government Editor John Patterson reported that tollway officials attempted a year ago to give millions of dollars in tax breaks to the operator of the failing suburban rest-stop oases before the move was blocked by the Illinois attorney general's office.

This is an agency in need of cleansing and reform, and we hope Wolff is up to the considerable task.

As Quinn said, "We have to make sure everything is ethical and everything is efficient,"