Nepotism continues in Cicero

[shrugger]

Tribune article on the family members getting paid positions with the Cicero government... after Dominick campaigned against this sort of thing.

I know that there are bigger issues to deal with at the moment, but I sincerely hope that we don't read a similar article about Berwyn in the near future. Defensible or not, it is the appearance of such actions that often matters. Especially for those elected on a "reform" platform. 


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Cicero's new leader also hiring relatives

By Brett McNeil, Tribune staff reporter. Freelance reporter Matt Baron contributed to this report

July 1, 2005

Cicero Town President Larry Dominick's administration Thursday defended the appointments earlier this week of Dominick's mother, sister and son to paid positions on taxpayer-supported advisory boards--moves that appear at odds with statements Dominick made last winter while campaigning for office.

"A family relation shouldn't qualify you or disqualify you for a position. The focus [in the campaign] was on family members making exorbitant salaries," said Dominick spokesman Dan Proft.

Dominick also has hired his daughter-in-law as his secretary and appointed a former step-daughter to a town commission.

"Larry's appointments and hires have been consistent with what he said he would do, which was put qualified people in positions of authority ... and to treat people equitably," Proft said.

On the stump, Dominick hammered away at former Town President Ramiro Gonzalez for hiring about 20 relatives, many to highly paid positions within town government. Gonzalez last December named his 23-year-old nephew, Jose Alanis, to a $78,000 job as Cicero assessor.

But now it's Alanis, who remains a Town Board member and whose salary next year is set to balloon to $122,000, who is questioning Dominick's actions as town president.

"I have noticed that people are just being either removed or fired for some reason," said Alanis, whose parents were both bounced from appointed commission posts at a Town Board meeting Tuesday night. "It could be political, it could be not."

While campaigning, Dominick promised to change Cicero's decades-old culture of nepotism. Shortly after upsetting Gonzalez, he said he had no intentions of turning town government into an employment agency for his relatives.

Town records show that Gonzalez's relatives collected more than $1 million in salaries and benefits from Cicero jobs in 2004.

"I've got a small family, very small--especially the unemployed," Dominick told the Tribune in February. "All my family members are working. My mother's 81. ... I've got two sons, they're working. I've got three step-kids, they've all got careers."

Yet since taking office, Dominick has hired one daughter-in-law, Lisa Dominick, as a full-time secretary at $55,000 a year and named the three relatives and a step-daughter from an earlier marriage to commission positions that pay an average of about $9,500. The positions also offer access to the town's health insurance coverage.

Proft said that Dominick's mother, Lillian, and sister, Cindy Dombrowski, would both refund to the town their entire $8,320 annual stipends for serving on the Animal Welfare Commission.

"You have two positions that have turned into de facto unpaid positions," he said. "Their interest is in protecting animals, not making a few grand over the course of the year. The money is incidental to them."

Proft also said that none of Dominick's relatives appointed to commission positions would sign up for town insurance.

"If [Dominick] wants to surround himself with a handful of people he really trusts in part-time positions, I don't see that as tantamount to the patronage system that previously existed in Cicero," Proft said. "It really is apples and oranges."

Still, Dominick's son, Brian, a full-time custodian at Morton High School District 201, is expected to keep his $10,600 annual stipend for serving as a member of Cicero's Building/Blight Commission, according to Proft.

And Dominick's former step-daughter, Nicole Chlada, whose husband works as Cicero's director of special events, is likewise expected to keep a $10,480 stipend for serving on the town's Health Board, Proft said.

Dominick did not return calls seeking comment on the appointments, and neither his mother, sister, son nor former step-daughter could be reached Thursday.

Cicero's system of advisory boards and commissions dates to the 1940s and has long been used as a way for the town's political bosses to reward precinct captains and other supporters for turning out the vote, according to Trustee Dennis Raleigh.

Today, there are about 15 boards and commissions that perform various functions, from recruiting volunteers to providing input into department operations. Town records show that members of at least seven of those commissions receive annual stipends ranging from $7,052 to $12,480.

It's unclear how much the commission system costs Cicero taxpayers each year, but last year Ramiro Gonzalez's administration paid out about $250,000 to appointees.

The 19 people named to posts by Dominick at Tuesday night's meeting, just a portion of the ranks of politically appointed commission members, will receive a total of more than $182,000 per year, an average of about $9,500 apiece.

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On Cicero payroll

Members of Cicero Town President Larry Dominick's family getting paid by the city:

Daughter-in-law Lisa Dominick, hired as a full-time secretary at $55,000.

Lillian Dominick, his mother, and Cindy Dombrowski, his sister, will refund their $8,320 stipends for serving on the Animal Welfare Commission and won't accept town insurance.

Son Brian Dominick is expected to keep his $10,600 stipend as a member of the Building/Blight Commission. Won't accept town insurance.

Nicole Chlada, former step-daughter, is expected to keep her $10,480 stipend for serving on the Health Board. Won't accept town insurance.

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bmcneil@tribune.com

Copyright © 2005, Chicago Tribune

[Paul Fuentes]

Quote:  Dominick also has hired his daughter-in-law as his secretary and appointed a former step-daughter to a town commission.


"former" step-daughter?  She must be bald-headed.