The resignation of the first Hispanic to head the state’s prison system left Latino lawmakers disappointed, despite a swirling controversy over alleged jail beatings that occurred while Ernesto Velasco headed Cook County Jail.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich accepted Velasco’s resignation Friday and vowed to appoint a new full-time director as quickly as possible. But key Hispanic lawmakers still sought an explanation about Velasco’s abrupt announcement.
“I don’t know whether there was more information out there, but I guess I’m not happy with how this has been handled,” said state Sen. Miguel del Valle (D-Chicago). “The governor has every right to select his cabinet. But let’s be careful how it’s handled, especially given that the Hispanic community has been waiting to have department heads and we’re excited about the fact we finally had an appointment and now it’s been snatched away from us.”
State Rep. Edward Acevedo (D-Chicago), who co-chairs the Latino legislative caucus with del Valle, said he, too, was disappointed that Velasco was no longer under consideration because he is so “highly qualified.”
“I think he was the best choice the governor could make,” he said.
Blagojevich’s spokeswoman, Cheryle Jackson, said the administration would continue to seek the most qualified candidates that “reflect the diversity of the state in every sense.”
A member of the legislature’s black caucus, which met privately with Blagojevich on Wednesday in Springfield, said one lawmaker told the governor that he should withdraw the Velasco nomination “because it was placing a blight on the state of Illinois.” But the lawmaker who attended the meeting said Blagojevich did not respond.
Other nominees under scope
The Velasco controversy that culminated in his resignation represented a blow to the fledgling Blagojevich administration, particularly with other nominees coming under scrutiny.
Michael Fenger, a longtime Rockford-area union official whom Blagojevich named to head the Labor Department, has come under fire for pleading guilty in 1998 to charges that he slashed the tires of a non-union truck during a labor protest.
Salvador Diaz, appointed by Blagojevich to oversee child protection at the Department of Children and Family Services, resigned a previous job in the agency in the early 1990s. He says it was over a dispute to renew a contract for an agency that was being investigated for malfeasance, still others say he was forced out, and the governor’s office is reviewing the matter.
On Friday, Velasco, 50, said in his letter of resignation that his “deep and unyielding respect for the Department of Corrections and its vital mission requires that I resign so that the public issues surrounding my appointment do not overshadow the department’s mandate.”
Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago) said “he thought it was in everyone’s best interest that [Velasco] resign, and he saw no possible way for him to be confirmed,” according to Cindy Davidsmeyer, Jones’ spokeswoman.
Former prison chief Donnie Snyder, who Velasco had replaced, was named the department’s temporary acting director.
Velasco’s resignation from the position, which pays about $127,000 a year, followed disclosures in the Tribune of two alleged beatings by jail guards and a report that Velasco’s wife had worked for a major jail supplier.
The disclosures sparked questions about how Velasco, who had made his career at the jail, had managed the facility and dealt with the excessive force allegations as well as the potential conflict of interest of his wife’s job.
Lon Monk, the governor’s chief of staff, said Velasco had been spending as much time trying to get up to speed on his new job as he was answering questions from the governor’s staff about the beating allegations. Monk said Blagojevich had not pulled his support.
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“I think he just made a decision that it wasn’t worth it and it’s time to move on,” said Monk. “We were taking all of the allegations very seriously and we were looking into that, and he just decided to resign.”
The first alleged beating occurred in February 1999, when the jail’s Special Operations Response Team raided a maximum-security division of the jail after a gang-related stabbing. Nearly 50 inmates said they were beaten.
With response team leader Richard Remus standing atop a table and yelling that the team controlled the jail, guards allegedly forced inmates out of their cells, stripped them to search for gang tattoos and assaulted many of them.
An internal affairs investigation stalled for two years, but when it was finished late last year it found that Remus took part and sanctioned the beatings and that other officers then tried to cover them up.
Earlier this month, Sheriff Michael Sheahan ordered discipline for eight officers, including Remus, but said his investigation found there was no evidence of guards using excessive force against inmates.
Velasco said he knew of no incidents of excessive force and defended his handling of the inquiry by saying he followed proper jail rules on internal investigations.
The second alleged incident occurred in 2000. In that case, officers allegedly took five prisoners into a pump room and beat them while the inmates were handcuffed and shackled. Two guards said they witnessed the beatings in sworn depositions as part of a lawsuit in the case.
Sheahan has said the inmates provoked guards so they could file a civil lawsuit against the jail, and his lawyers have provided the statements of inmates who claim they heard the inmates making plans, although they did not witness what allegedly occurred afterward in the pump room.
Appointment on hold
Caught by surprise after lavishing praise on Velasco at news conferences throughout the state, Blagojevich promptly declared he was “very troubled” by the Tribune reports and put Velasco’s Senate confirmation hearing on indefinite hold.
Velasco’s troubles were compounded by subsequent reports in the Tribune that his wife worked last year for the St. Louis firm that operates the jail commissary. In addition, Velasco endorsed the company on its Web site.
Jail officials said he had not disclosed to them his wife’s job or the endorsement and, when informed of both situations, said they did not approve.
On Friday, Blagojevich appointed former state Rep. Edgar Lopez (D-Chicago) as the acting head of the Department of Financial Institutions. Lopez lost a re-election bid in 2000 after he worked closely with Republican Gov. George Ryan on a groundbreaking trip to meet with Fidel Castro in Cuba.
Monk said Lopez’s job would be temporary.