West Cook News

Burr Ridge Mayor Mickey Straub said he hopes that Rep. Jim Durkin’s sister-in-law cleared all the proper channels in getting her job in April as general manager of engineering at the Illinois Tollway, but a recent story by the Chicago Daily Herald raises suspicions that she did not.

“The story does raise a lot more questions than it answers,” Straub told West Cook News.

Straub is challenging Durkin (Western Springs) in the Republican primary.

Mickey Straub

Illinois Tollway insists that Durkin had nothing to do with the hiring of his sister-in-law, Laura Durkin. Spokesperson Joelle McGinnis said Laura Durkin was chosen out of 10 other applicants because "she had the best skill set of the candidates considered for the job including management experience, organizational skills and detail focus."

But the Tollway provided the Herald with no details on Laura Durkin’s qualifications for the job, and it turned down a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking her resume.

Legal experts and government watchdog groups said that resumes should be made public under FOIA.

“Refusing to give up a resume is troubling,” said Kirk Allen of the Edgar County Watchdogs. “Resumes are public records.”

Tollway officials told the Herald that Laura Durkin’s job entails oversight of the engineering department contract services unit, document control group and web-based project management team. That involves assisting tollway engineers and managers with processing contract paperwork and complying with documentation procedures involving 240 contracts.

The engineering manager also manages the flow of contract documentation from advertising bids to closeout and works with the diversity, procurement, legal and finance departments.

State records show Laura Durkin does not hold a professional engineer's license. But any “contention that patronage was somehow in play is not applicable," McGinnis said.

The response prompted this point the Daily Herald made in a follow-up editorial on Laura Durkin, the Tollway and its history of patronage:

“To the contrary, the mere existence of the family relationship between a top legislative leader and an executive for a state agency like the tollway makes questions at least ‘applicable.’ Given the reputation that the tollway has been trying to shake as a haven for political and patronage hiring, the selection elevates Laura Durkin's hiring to the level of at least ‘curious.’”

The paper said that Jim Durkin did not return calls seeking comment and that Laura Durkin refused to comment. It has also appealed its FOIA request to the Illinois Attorney General's office.

Meanwhile, a 2012 Chicago Tribune story said that two of Jim Durkin’s family members were on a “clout list” for admission to the University of Illinois.

“The first broad analysis of who benefited from the school's clout lists shows that a number of lawmakers championed applicants whose relatives donated to their campaigns or represented groups that regularly made political contributions,” the story said

Jim Durkin told the paper he wanted to know if his family members had sufficient grades and test scores when he inquired about their applications in 2008. Both were honors students, he said, and were accepted.

"I was just making a call," he said. "I was just trying to figure out what is acceptable for the freshman class for acceptance. Both of them had surpassed the standards."

For its part, Burr Ridge has strict management and control standards when hiring village employees, Straub said.

“We make sure that there is absolutely no outside influence when hiring for a job, police force included,” Straub said.

In separate news, Straub slammed Jim Durkin over his “disgusting” sexual predator campaign ads, calling them "defamatory."

“It’s a sign of desperation from a desperate candidate,” Straub said. “He’s twisting some facts and misleading people.”

The ads claim a Straub link to defeated Alabama U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore through an unrelated chain of campaign donors. Throughout his campaign, Moore was dogged by allegations that 30 years before he sexually harassed teenage girls. He denied the allegations.