Cook County promoted former Chicago alderman once recommended for firing after allegedly saying, ‘I can’t stand these Mexicans’

The Chicago Tribune reports:

Cook County officials promoted a former Chicago alderman despite a hearing officer’s previous recommendation that she be fired over allegations she made various offensive comments at work, including, “I can’t stand these Mexicans,” records and interviews show.

The county promoted former Ald. Vilma Colom in the spring to labor liaison officer, a $97,000-per-year position responsible for helping officials during collective bargaining.


But in fall 2016, an internal investigation determined that she made “offensive comments about people from Mexico” while working as a labor hearing officer, records show. The reviewing official recommended that she be fired, but Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s human resources chief instead ordered that Colom receive sensitivity training and monitoring.

Two workers at Stroger Hospital said they overheard Colom make offensive comments while on the phone in June 2016, according to records. One of the employees said Colom was speaking “loudly and with a clipped tone” and said, “These (expletive) Mexicans.” The other allegedly heard Colom say, “There’s too many of them over here, they need to go back across the Rio Grande,” according to the report.

The struggles of the Democrat party. This Democrat party member was an historic first for Chicago. Go figure...