Tuesday, July 01, 2014

Rep. Gutierrez's Daughter May Have Received Preferential Treatment



Flashback to The Huffington Post:
Two stories in the Chicago Sun-Times Monday suggest that the daughter of Representative Luis Gutierrez may have received preferential treatment from the city and state government.

Omaira Figueroa was hired by the Rod Blagojevich administration in 2004, after being listed on a secret clout database kept by the indicted ex-governor, the Sun-Times reports. Four years later, despite earning a healthy salary, she bought an affordable housing unit from a donor to her father's campaign, with the blessing of an alderman who Gutierrez mentored.

The congressman vehemently denies any wrongdoing in either case.

Gutierrez wouldn't entertain such speculation "unless you could show me she violated some rule, that she got some kind of special treatment," he told the Sun-Times. "It's just not there."

In the case of Figueroa's 2004 hiring, the congressman's daughter was taken on at the Illinois Commerce Commission after working as an assistant sergeant-at-arms for the city council. The job earns her nearly $60,000 a year.
The great moments of Cook County Democrats.