Posted by John Byrne at 3:33 p.m.
Mayor Richard Daley today insisted his hiring oversight chief was suspended for mishandling a sexual harassment complaint, not because of a City Hall political power grab.
The mayor appeared in public for the first time in more than a week Saturday and offered his reaction to the lawsuit filed against him and others by Anthony Boswell, Daley’s hand-picked choice to lead the Office of Compliance.
Boswell’s attorney, Jamie Wareham, told reporters Thursday that Boswell has was targeted for retribution in part for exposing what he said was an attempt
by mayoral attorney Mara Georges to circumvent court-ordered hiring
rules.
"This is Chicago. … Do we understand how people in the mayor’s office
target people and continue to beat them like a drum until they leave
town with their tail between their legs and their reputations
destroyed? Is this a fact pattern that sounds familiar to any of you?"
Wareham asked at a news conference.
The suit was filed after city Inspector General Joe Ferguson recommended Boswell’s suspension, concluding that Boswell mishandled a student intern’s sexual harassment
complaint against a 911 center boss. Daley announced the suspension
without pay Feb. 12.
Today, Daley dismissed the notion that Boswell is a target of political retribution.
"There was an investigation in regard to a sexual harassment situation, and no one followed through, and that’s what the complaint was," Daley said at a Lunar New Year celebration hosted by the Vietnamese Association of Illinois at a church in the Edgewater Beach neighborhood. "Had the complaint been followed through — no one followed that. And there was an investigation by the inspector general, who gave the report and he was disciplined for thirty days."
Daley said he has no hard feelings toward Boswell, who will be welcomed back to the administration once the suspension is complete. The mayor, however, has been working to strip Boswell’s office of hiring oversight and shift that authority to the inspector general’s office.
"Today, everybody sues everybody," Daley said. "Like anything else, you have that. Remember, (Boswell) came from Texas, he was found by an independent group who really recommended him: great credentials, good family man, very committed public servant."