Gorman budget amendments strike at raise for Preckwinkle appointee

A suburban Cook County Board commissioner is taking direct aim at a raise that President Toni Preckwindkle gave to a high-ranking administrator at the forest preserve district.

Orland Park Republican Commissioner Liz Gorman is threatening to rankle Preckwinkle with two Cook County Forest Preserve District budget amendments applying to her appointment for deputy superintendent, second in command at the forest preserves.

Preckwinkle raised eyebrows on the forest preserve district board when she recently proposed raising the salary of Deputy Superintendent Mary Laraia from $112,000 to $156,000, an increase of almost 40 percent. Laraia was named to the post in December, shortly after Preckwinkle’s inauguration.

Gorman plans to introduce two measures Wednesday as commissioners prepare to pass a new forest preserve district budget. One would ban any raise for an employee until he or she passes a one-year anniversary in a position. The other would specifically return the deputy superintendent’s salary to $112,000, with the $44,000 raise diverted to the land-acquisition fund.

Gorman previously took issue with the raise, but Evanston Democratic Commissioner Larry Suffredin countered that he believed it was the salary Laraia had agreed to accept for an expanded job consolidating several eliminated positions, thus actually saving the county money.

Preckwinkle, too, defended the raise, pointing to Laraia’s work at the Metropolitan Planning Council and LaSalle Bank. She cited the job’s expanded responsibilities in financial forecasting, change management and public policy and land planning, and said Laraia was uniquely suited to fill the position.

Preckwinkle also said that because the forest preserve district is financially solvent, it is not subject to the 16 percent cuts the county government has been trying to make to balance its budget.

Yet, Gorman said, “Just because the forest preserve has the money doesn’t mean we have to spend it. ... I don’t know what the increased job description is. I’m unaware of the differences.”

Gorman also has raised the issue that Laraia contributed $2,000 to Preckwinkle’s presidential campaign last year, something the new president made no apologies for.

Gorman said she’s not concerned with ending any perceived “honeymoon” period for the new president, and that other commissioners had already offered to support and co-sponsor the measures. “We’re not always going to be on the same page,” she said. “We’ll see if it has any legs.”

Gorman also will offer the ban on raises within a year of hiring as a countywide amendment when the board takes up the county budget on Friday, and will propose amendments putting restrictions on hiring former government employees, a measure aimed at preventing what she called a possible “exodus” of city employees after Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley leaves office.