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For Immediate Release
Contact:
Steve Schoeffel
Steve@DanRutherford.org
Rutherford calls on Jesse White to come
clean
On nepotism in Secretary of State hiring
(Chicago, IL) –
Candidate for Secretary of State Dan Rutherford is calling on incumbent
Secretary of State (SoS) Jesse White to explain his hiring practice and
dramatic salary increases of multiple immediate family members of himself
and his top brass. What Rutherford calls “a pattern of impropriety” came
to light in a story by Greg Hinz in Crain’s Chicago Business publication,
August 21, 2006, entitled “Jesse’s Stumbles.” Further evidence of
nepotism and no bid contracts was brought out in a Hinz follow-up column
August 28, 2006, entitled, “Family Business,” in which a reference is made
to “Chicago’s famed Roti clan” as a point of comparison in regards to
hiring.
According to the
published accounts, White’s daughter was hired at an annual salary of
$39,000 under Secretary of State George Ryan, but after her father took
office as Secretary of State her salary was nearly tripled and she now
makes over $112,000. It is also learned the White’s step-grandson has
been on the SoS payroll since November of 2002 making over $40,000. Jesse
White’s nephew, George White, and three nieces are also on the Jesse White
payroll making as much as $63,500 each.
White’s Chief of
Staff, Thomas Benigno, makes $137,000 annually from the taxpayers, as well
as receiving a stipend from Jesse White’s Reelection Campaign Committee.
It has been recently revealed that the Chief of Staff’s wife received an
18-month no bid contract, circumventing the personnel hiring code, for
what is called a part-time secretarial job paying $2,000 per month working
out of the driver’s facility in their hometown. In addition, three of
the Chief of Staff’s children, as well as a niece and nephew all have
worked for the SoS in the last four years under White’s tenure. Also
uncovered is that two other Benigno relatives are working for the
Secretary of State’s office, one making almost $43,000.
All told,
according to published accounts, four other of White’s high-level staff
have relatives that now work for Jesse White and a number of them with no
bid contracts.
Further, it was
learned that the author of Jesse White’s new biography, which was released
a few months before the election, was written by Rick Davis, a $73,000 a
year no bid contractual employee for Secretary of State Jesse White’s
government office.
Reconfirmed in
published reports was that White accepts cash for Christmas gifts
from his top employees, those he determines annual salary increases, like
his predecessor George Ryan. He has also received a number of significant
campaign contributions from his top staff.
“With just the
examples included here, these few employees easily earn over $500,000 in
taxpayer-funded salaries and contracts,” said Rutherford. “We are clearly
seeing a pattern of impropriety coming to light. The people of Illinois
saw Jesse White’s predecessor convicted for improprieties akin to what
White is doing today.”
“The public
wants hiring based on experience and ability. They want contracts given
only for absolutely needed purposes. The U.S. Attorney has indicted and
Federal Courts have convicted those who willfully violate the public
trust. It seems to me Jesse White would run an office beyond reproach, but
we are now seeing a pattern of impropriety coming to light.”
Rutherford
called on Jesse White to make public his Personnel Policy with regard to
hiring and promoting family members and his policy on awarding no bid
contracts to family members and friends that do personal favors.
“The people of
Illinois deserve to know how Jesse White makes the decision to put close
friends and relatives on the government payroll and at what cost,”
Rutherford stated.
“We have
already seen one of Jesse White’s Agency Directors, Cecil Turner, indicted
by the U.S. Attorney and going on trial for alleged ghost-pay rolling. It
is time to end the culture of corruption in the Secretary of State’s
Office,” emphasized Rutherford.
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