Preckwinkle defends raise for contributor

At a time when Cook County expects to lay off hundreds of people, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle seeks to give a $43,000 pay raise to a campaign contributer she appointed to a top post in the forest preserve district.

Preckwinkle made no apologies for seeking a $155,000 salary for Mary Lairia, named deputy superintendent of the forest preserve district in December. Lairia, Preckwinkle said, is taking on duties of other forest preserve positions that were cut.

“It’s an increase with a change in responsibilities,” Preckwinkle said of Lairia’s raise from $112,000.

The proposed raise will figure in the approval of the forest preserve budget later this month.

Cook County Commissioner Liz Gorman, an Orland Park Republican, raised objections. “I don’t know that there are enough additional hours in the workweek that can justify a $43,000 raise,” she said. “It’s real concerning. I don’t know that it’s a necessary extension of duties.”

Gorman also criticized the appearance of political favoritism. “The appearance is definitely there,” she added.

State campaign contribution disclosures filed by Preckwinkle’s political committee confirm that Lairia contributed more than $2,000 to her presidential campaign last year.

Preckwinkle said some 3,000 people contributed to her campaign, “and I wouldn’t say to any of them that you can’t work in county government because of it,” she added. “Mary Lairia is a former head of the Metropolitan Planning Council. She was in charge of community lending at LaSalle Bank. She’s a very talented person. She’s well-deserving of both the increased responsibility and the increased pay.”

Preckwinkle has also pointed out that the forest preserve district is fiscally sound and not facing the budget crunch that has forced her to seek 16 percent cuts almost across the board in county government.

Those cutbacks are expected to result in layoffs of more than 1,000 people, Preckwinkle said when presenting her budget proposal last month.

Evanston Democratic Commissioner Larry Suffredin defended the raise.

“I don’t see it as a pay raise,” he said. “I see it as the job that she was hired for, this was the negotiated salary.”

“I don’t have a problem as long as all the other responsibilities are there,” Suffredin said, saying that in the long run the pay is less than the county was paying for the same duties.