From the Tribune

Originally posted: September 26, 2008
Another tollway chief leaves for company that got contracts

By Richard Wronski
Tribune reporter
For the second time in less than three years, the executive director of the Illinois tollway is leaving to take a job with a company that does work for the agency, despite a "revolving door" law that Gov. Rod Blagojevich championed to end cozy relationships between state officials and the people who seek state business.
In both cases, the companies that hired the executive directors of the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority were major contributors to Blagojevich’s campaign fund.
Brian McPartlin, 42, executive director of the tollway since 2006, said he will leave next month to become vice president of McDonough Associates. The Chicago-based engineering and architectural firm has received more than $39 million in tollway contracts over the last six years, said tollway spokeswoman Joelle McGinnis.
McPartlin said he is seeking a waiver of the so-called “revolving-door” statute that bars state officials from working for industries they oversaw for one year after quitting their posts.
McPartlin is the latest in a line of recent Illinois officials who have left key government jobs to work for companies that do state business. He follows the career path of his predecessor, Jack Hartman, who also left the tollway to join the Rise Group, a Chicago-based construction consulting firm that made more than $250,000 in 2005 on a tollway contract.
Admitting that his move would raise questions, McPartlin maintained that he is following the letter of the law by requesting the waiver, which has not yet been approved by the state ethics Illinois Executive Ethics Commission.
“I have been very transparent,” McPartlin said. “There is no conflict of interest.”
McPartlin said that even with a waiver, he would not perform any tollway-related work during his first year at McDonough.
Ethics commission director Chad Fornoff said waivers are rarely disapproved and that “the standard is quite low.”
McDonough has performed more than $39 million worth of no-bid inspection and design work for the tollway over the past last six years, McGinnis said.
Under rules governing the awarding of professional services contracts, McPartlin has played no role in the agency’s contracts with McDonough, McGinnis said.
McPartlin, a former official in the Clinton Administration administration and a prominent Democrat, said he decided in June to leave the tollway after more than 20 years of government work.
The Mt. Prospect resident said he desired to start a new career and better provide for his family. He cited the cost of paying college tuition next year for one of his three children.
McPartlin bristled when asked about criticism of officials who take private sector private-sector jobs with companies that do state business.
“...[W]e “We live in Illinois. People have skepticism all the time about things, and they criticize all the time,...” McPartlin said. “I don’t see a problem with it.
“The reality of it is, I’m moving on with my career. I should have an opportunity to move on with my career wherever I choose to go. People are going to comment on it regardless.”
John Mitola, the tollway’s chairman, credited McPartlin on Thursday with leading the agency through the first half of its $6.3 billion rebuilding and widening project, bringing construction crews to virtually every stretch of the system. The 286-mile system also was converted to open-road tolling.
But the agency came under intense criticism earlier this year when it went after thousands of toll scofflaws dating back to 2006. The blunt-spoken McPartlin made no bones about going after toll “cheats.”
McPartlin’s successor will be chosen by Blagojevich and Mitola.
A number of tollway contractors and Mitola were present at a recent Blagojevich fundraiser on Rush Street. Federal investigators have subpoenaed records from Blagojevich’s campaign and are investigating his fundraising activities.
McPartlin responded with a sharp “no” when asked Thursday if investigators had questioned him in connection with the governor.
“I don’t get involved in any fundraising,” McPartlin said.
McDonough and its employees have donated $124,000 to Blagojevich’s campaign, records show.
McDonough, formerly known as Murphy Engineering, has completed more than $5 billion in projects for hundreds of governmental and private clients, including work on Chicago’s expressways and tollways, according to the company.
Since 2002, McDonough had had 12 contracts with the tollway for inspection, design and project management, McGinnis said.
Approval of professional services contracts is done by a semi-independent committee, and approved by the tollway board of directors, McGinnis said.
McPartlin’s post will be filled on an acting basis by his $152,000-a-year chief of staff, Dawn Catuara.
Catuara joined the tollway in October 2007 after spending more than 30 years with the Circuit Court of Cook County Circuit Court, most recently as chief executive officer chief administrator.
Tribune reporter John Chase contributed to this report.