Lawsuit Claims Cicero President Used Racial Slurs

By Chuck Sudo in News on Jul 5, 2011 6:40PM

Cicero politics is Chicago politics, distilled to a bitter tasting elixir, with officials behaving badly in public in a such a manner, you'd swear you were watching family infighting: actually, some Cicero political feuds are familial. In such feuds and arguments, things are said that can cut.

Cicero town President Larry Dominick is accused in a wrongful termination lawsuit filed by a fired town employee of using racial slurs for Hispanics. Cicero officials contend that Merced Rojas was fired from his job for working a side job while on the clock working for the town. in his lawsuit, Rojas countered that he was fired because of his race and because his family owns a Spanish-language newspaper that's been critical of Dominick in the past.

Dominick is accused of referring to Hispanics as “spics,” “wetbacks” and “illegal fucking immigrants,” according to the lawsuit. Dominick's attorney rejects the accusations while also noting that his wife (who recently quit her job as head of the Cicero Health Department because he rejected a pay raise for her) is Hispanic.

Rojas' attorney is also hoping to use the lawsuit to ask Dominick questions on the stand about patronage in town government, sexual harassment claims, and other items that could cast Dominick in a (worse) light. Judge James Holderman said he will consider the requests on a case-by-case basis, the lone exception being questions about Dominick's alleged ties to organized crime.