Member of Rahm's Transition Team Resigns

By Soyoung Kwak in News on Feb 27, 2011 5:00PM

Looks like everything isn't necessarily coming up roses for the new mayor-to-be: Judy Erwin, who had co-chaired Rahm Emanuel's mayoral campaign, was recently named part of Emanuel's transition team but quit amidst questioning conducted by the Chicago Tribune in regards to misused taxpayer funds for political purposes while she was the executive director of the Illinois Board of Education.

Definitely disappointing news for the Emanuel political team, Erwin's abrupt resignation casts a cloud of negativity over Rahm's post-election glow. According to the Illinois Executive Ethics Commission ruling on February 16th, Erwin used state time to further her own political agenda:

Erwin admitted using her office e-mail and phone while working on a campaign committee for then-presidential candidate Barack Obama, using staff resources to plan her trip to the 2008 Democratic National Convention and engaging in campaign fundraising activity while on the job.

Oh, but the fun doesn't stop there:

The inspector general investigation found that Erwin repeatedly violated the state prohibition on political activity between July 2008 and February 2009 and "co-opted" her staff by involving them in her activities.

Additionally, the report stated that Erwin had resigned from her post in August 2010 and was fined $4,000 for her violation. Erwin also apparently promised never to seek another state job after this whole incident unfolded, but somehow failed to mention any of this to Emanuel until this past Friday.

Although Erwin says that she stepped down from her place in Emanuel's transition team so that Emanuel wouldn't have to deal with any "distractions" while he's getting ready to take office, it seems a little too late for that now.

We're sorry you have to deal with this, Rahmbo.