Gorman thwarted as Cook passes forest-preserve budget

The Cook County Board passed a reduced 2011 budget for the forest preserve district, but along the way amendments critical of President Toni Preckwinkle got lost in the shuffle — deliberately so, according to Orland Park Republican Commissioner Liz Gorman, sponsor of the measures.

Gorman submitted three amendments to the final budget hearing, two of which concerned Preckwinkle appointee Mary Laraia, deputy superintendent of the forest preserve district. Laraia had her salary raised by $44,000 as part of the new budget, but Gorman's amendments would have banned raises for anyone in the first year on the payroll, and would have reset the post's salary at the original $112,000.

Yet Gorman said she was in Preckwinkle's office discussing other budget matters when the finance committee took up her amendments, and they were never formally considered, even though Chicago Democratic Commissioners Earlean Collins and Deborah Sims were co-sponsors, along with Crestwood Democrat Joan Patricia Murphy.

Stunned to find the amendments tabled when she took the floor, Gorman called it “business as usual in Cook County,” adding, “Same old sludge. Unbelievable.”

Charging a “conspiracy theory,” Gorman called the diversion “a planned kidnapping.” She later backed off that slightly, saying only, “It makes one wonder.”

Preckwinkle matter-of-factly saw to it that the board rejected Gorman's bid to reconsider the items, but the chairman of the finance committee who originally brushed them to the side was Gorman's fellow suburban Republican Gregg Goslin of Glenview.

Although sympathetic to Gorman's cause, Goslin said there was nothing he could do. “She just was not there,” he said. “There are rules. You've got to be there.”

“I'm obviously disappointed my amendments weren't heard,” Gorman said, and she joined Chicago Democrat William Beavers in voting against the budget, which passed 15-2.

The $160.2 million balanced budget for the forest preserve district was down 2 percent from last year, which Elmwood Park Republican Commissioner Peter Silvestri cited as partial justification for the raise for Laraia, who Preckwinkle has said fully deserved it for adding duties as other positions were eliminated.

Gorman's proposed ban on first-year raises will go instead to committee, along with a proposal to ban “double-dipping” employees with other government pensions from county jobs.