County Treasurer "Keeping" $57K Cleaning Lady, $94K Driver

By Chuck Sudo in News on Jan 13, 2011 8:30PM

Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas (maybe you've seen her at parades around town twirling a baton and walking toy dogs) came under the watchful investigative eyes of CBS2's Pam Zekman and the Better Government Association for keeping a $94,000 a year driver and $57,000 a year cleaning lady on her payroll. Only, the driver and cleaning lady aren't listed as such in her annual budget.

Pressed by Zekman to explain the (at the very least) clerical error, Pappas said that driver Emanuel Hatzisavas and cleaning lady Teresa Kawa are on the staff because she trusts them. Then she took a page from the Joe Berrios "it would have been nicer to say 'F-You'" playbook and said, "I'm keeping them." Hatzisavas is listed in Pappas's budget as a "Project Leader;" his salary only $11,000 less than the Treasurer's. Kawa is listed as an "Administrative Analyst." Pappas explained to Zekman that there were no proper job descriptions in county records for janitor or driver. "That’s sort of how the county’s antiquated system works," she said. Then Zekman found custodial listings in the job descriptions for Cook County Sheriff, effectively calling out Pappas on that claim.

Undercover video from CBS2 showed Hatzisavas sometimes waiting for hours simply to drive Pappas to work or wait for her yoga lesson to end at the East Bank Club. In addition to cleaning the full 20,000 square feet of the Treasurer's offices five days a week, Kawa also moonlights as Pappas's personal cleaning lady.