Better Government Association

Call the cops! Oh, he is a cop . . .

Commentary

March 27, 2007

Getting hit with a speeding ticket is a brush with the law. Getting busted for underage drinking is a brush with the law. Maybe an arrest for some juvenile vandalism could be considered a brush with the law. But taking $2,700 in bribes from motorists to clear their records as a secretary of state employee? That's a tad bit more than a brief contact with the authorities -- it's more like a head-on collision.

But officials at the Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago don't see it that way. They hired John McGowan, who served four months in prison and four months of home confinement for his 2004 bribery conviction, for a job as policeman guarding the district's wastewater treatment facility in Stickney. District President Richard Lanyon said officials were aware of McGowan's "brush with the law" but determined it had no bearing on his job as "vacation relief police officer."

As Better Government Association President Jay Stewart put it, "This is astounding, even by Chicago standards. . . . To call this unwise would be an understatement."

We agree. We're all for giving someone a second chance. But when someone abuses a position of public trust, the last place you want to see them is in another position of public trust. And the fact that McGowan is the son of Water District Commissioner Barbara McGowan sure makes you wonder if clout played a role in his hiring.