Lawmaker's wife doubles salary with appointment

By AP Political Writer JOHN O'CONNOR (The Associated Press)

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SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — An Illinois lawmaker's wife will nearly double her state salary thanks to an appointment Tuesday from Gov. Pat Quinn.

Quinn picked Carrie Zalewski over 50 other applicants for a spot on the state Pollution Control Board with a salary of $117,000.

The 30-year-old environmental compliance attorney for the state Transportation Department is married to Rep. Mike Zalewski, D-Chicago.

Mike Zalewskisaid he spoke briefly to several people in the governor's office to bring their attention to his wife's qualifications but promised nothing in return.

"What I said to the governor's office was if you just took a look at her credentials, you'd see that she was an excellent candidate for consideration," he told The Associated Press. "It didn't go beyond that. I wanted to make sure they understood that her credentials were really strong for the position."

Quinn spokeswoman Marlena Jentz said there were 51 applicants for the post vacated by Shundar Lin, whose term expired.

"Carrie Zalewski met with senior Quinn administration officials and demonstrated that she was the most qualified applicant for the board," Jentz said.

Ethics is a sensitive matter for the Democratic governor, who built his reputation as a reformer and replaced the impeached Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Quinn promised to help eradicate practices such as nepotism from Illinois government, but he has taken hits over personnel problems and faces a primary battle in February against Comptroller Dan Hynes.

Carrie Zalewski, who joined Transportation in May 2006 and earns $61,200, said she applied for positions on the Pollution Control Board and other environmental panels through a Web site Quinn set up last spring for soliciting candidates for state boards and commissions.

She said she was interviewed in August by Quinn's Chief of Staff Jerome Stermer but that she had no other discussions with aides to the governor. She learned of the appointment and her Nov. 16 starting date in a brief e-mail moments before the AP's inquiry Tuesday.

When asked whether her husband's intercession helped her, Carrie Zalewski said, "I would like to think not."

"I'd like to think my background speaks for itself," she said. "I'm an attorney with the state of Illinois and I know Gov. Quinn was interested in my background."

The five-member Pollution Control Board oversees environmental standards and decides cases in which there are disputes over the rules.

Zalewski, whose appointment requires Senate approval, said she has appeared before the pollution board for the Transportation Department on several occasions and is familiar with its procedures.

Quinn has faced other recent personnel headaches. His deputy chief of staff resigned Friday amid a published report based on unnamed sources that the state inspector general is reviewing whether she performed political work on state time.

Last week, a Blagojevich cabinet member whom Quinn named to an international trade office declined the appointment after The Associated Press reported that there was no evidence a man who acted as her chauffeur did anything else for the state, contrary to what she had told lawmakers.