An Illinois county Democratic official employed his half-brother for years at a government agency, despite ethics rules against hiring relatives, the Chicago Sun-Times reports:
Cook County Board of Review Commissioner Larry Rogers Jr., a self-proclaimed reformer, until recently had employed his half-brother for years at the agency that rules on property-tax appeals, records show.
Rogers’ half-brother, Frederic Everly, resigned a month ago from his $61,139.52-a-year job as an administrative assistant with the Board of Review.
That was after the county ethics board accused Cook County Assessor Joe Berrios of violating the county’s ethics ordinance by hiring two family members — his son and sister — soon after winning election in 2010. The ethics board ordered Berrios to pay a $10,000 fine and to remove his relatives from the assessor’s office payroll — penalties Berrios has ignored, saying the ordinance doesn’t apply to him.
Rogers was first elected in 2004 after being endorsed be Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D., Ill.), who is currently being treated at the Mayo Clinic for "deep, deep depression."
