The chair of the Cook County Board of Ethics will be replaced by a new commissioner when the group meets Thursday afternoon, officials said.
After serving more than her four-year term, Margaret “Peggy” Daley is being asked to leave the volunteer role, she said in an email. Although Daley’s term officially expired in July, her transition came as a surprise and she only learned she was being replaced through an email she was sent on Tuesday, she said.
“I was under the mistaken impression that my term rolled over, so I was surprised to receive the termination letter,” Daley wrote. “Ultimately, I serve at the pleasure of the President and the Board of Commissioners and it is their right (to) choose their members … It has been a career highlight and I am very proud of the work we have done.”
Ethics board members are hand-selected by Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle based on recommendations. It is an unpaid post, but the board is tasked with enforcing the county’s ethics regulations and creating rules that govern more than 20,000 county employees and officials. There are five board members and they decide, among other things, how county employees and officials should conduct themselves.
Daley’s term expired already, but Commissioners David Grossman, Juliet Sorensen and Thomas Szromba all have terms that expire in the next six weeks. On Wednesday, it had not been determined if Preckwinkle will replace all of them, officials with her office said.
Sign up for The Spin to get the top stories in politics delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons.
For months, Preckwinkle’s office has been reviewing all of its county boards and commissions and considering how to fill vacancies and determine new appointments and reappointments, a spokesman for her office said. That review led to the dissolution of the county’s Injury Compensation Review Committee. It has been recommended that the county kill its Medical Examiner Advisory Committee, since many of the problems that once plagued that office have been resolved.
“We typically do not replace a board member until we have found a replacement,” Nick Shields, a Preckwinkle spokesman, said in a written statement.
Daley will be replaced by Susan Gaffney, an associate professor at Governors State University, officials said.
Gaffney could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
The turnover comes just as the ethics board is expected to vote on proposed changes to the County Code of Ethics despite objections from Preckwinkle’s office.
In a letter, an attorney representing the president’s office asked the board to delay voting on the proposed changes, which have not yet been made public. But the board decided to move forward anyway, officials said.
The personnel change also comes about a year after it was revealed that Daley and two other board members donated to Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s campaign when she was competing with Preckwinkle for the city’s top seat.
Daley, Sorensen and Grossman donated a combined $8,500 to Lightfoot’s campaign, election records showed. The county ethics code does not prohibit board members from making campaign donations, and at the time board members said if it ever created a conflict on a matter, they would recuse themselves from voting on those issues.
At the time, both Daley and Sorensen said they were personal friends of Lightfoot and that their financial support was not a subtle criticism of Preckwinkle.
Besides donating to Lightfoot’s campaign, Daley also was a vocal critic of former County Assessor and Preckwinkle ally Joseph Berrios.
“I have been an advocate for good government and public service throughout my career,” she said in her email, noting that she hasn’t had a conversation with Preckwinkle about being replaced on the board.
Daley is an attorney and lecturer and works for the Berkeley Research Group. She said she hopes her fellow commissioners get a chance to continue serving.
“They are an exceptional group of experienced and dedicated professionals so I would hope that they would be asked to remain,” she wrote.
Twitter @lollybowean
