Changes at the top continue at the Illinois Tollway with the departure of executive director Elizabeth “Liz” Gorman.
Gorman, a former Republican Cook County Commissioner who has led the Tollway for about a year, is “no longer employed” by the authority as of last Friday, Board Chair Will Evans said in a memo to staff. Chief Operating Officer Kevin Artl will act as interim director.
Gorman’s exit was not a surprise — new governors typically appoint new leadership to the agency that oversees the state’s toll roads.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, appointed a new board of directors at the end of last month. The sweep of the board followed concerns about favoritism in contracts and hiring.
Evans, former president of People Gas and North Shore Gas, replaced Robert Schillerstrom, a prominent suburban Republican and former chair of the DuPage County Board.
The new 11-member board has three labor union executives, including Jim Sweeney, president and business manager of the politically influential International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150. The union was an opponent of Rauner’s efforts to weaken organized labor. Sweeney had previously served on the Tollway board under Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn.
Also on the new board is Karen McConnaughay of St. Charles, a former Republican state senator and a minority spokesperson for the Senate Transportation Committee. McConnaughay chose not to seek re-election last year.
Last year, Tollway officials defended contracts awarded to firms with political connections or ties to Tollway employees before the Senate Transportation Committee. The Tollway later adopted new ethics procedures.
Former Tollway board member and Democratic state senator Bill Morris said the new board seemed “loaded with special interests.” He said he was disappointed that the new board did not include a member from Lake County. The county, the site of the controversial proposed I-53 extension, has lacked a representative for five years, Morris said.
The Tollway is currently doing an environmental study of an I-53 extension into Lake County, which Morris and other critics call a waste of money.
“The problem the Tollway has had and I hope will not have again is that the members of the Tollway board have to recognize they represent the users of the Tollway and the general public and not the guy or gal who brought them to the dance,” said Morris.
Gorman was paid $215,000 a year, which was $29,000 more than former executive director Greg Bedalov, who moved on to head the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority. It was not immediately known what Artl would make as interim head of the authority.
Tollway directors make $31,000 a year.
mwisniewski@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @marywizchicago
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March 18, 2019 at 02:22PM
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