Daley Ethics Aide Resigns

By Kevin Robinson in News on Feb 4, 2010 3:00PM

Mark Meaney, first deputy to Anthony Boswell in Mayor Daley's Office of Compliance, resigned his $146,940-a-year position yesterday. The city inspector general recommended to Mayor Daley in a report last month that both be suspended for their handling of a 2008 complaint of sexual in the city's 911 center. The IG's investigation stems from an incident in which a student intern alleged that a high-ranking 911 center deputy made inappropriate comments about her appearance, repeatedly asked her out on dates and remarked that he'd like to have a cheerleader for an intern someday. The city's sexual harassment officer (who works for Boswell and Meaney) tried to investigate the claim, but ran into resistance, according to the IG's report. The two compliance chiefs supposedly tried to get the 911 official a new student intern, as well as trying to move him to a different city job, away from the 911 center.

"It was a privilege to have been part of something that had never been tried before, corporate-style compliance in municipal government," Meaney wrote Tuesday in an e-mail to the Tribune. "Mayor Daley should be applauded in his efforts at true reform. Unfortunately, fear and blame seem to be winning over culture change." Meaney's resignation comes as the Daley administration considers handing all responsiblity over hiring to the city IG, in an effort to get out from under the scrutiny of the Shakman decree.