The Executive Inspector General has found that an Illinois Department of Transportation administrator violated conflict-of-interest and merit-hiring rules in the hiring of her next-door neighbor as fleet manager in 2014.
The report Wednesday found that Laura Campbell also made false statements when she said she told her supervisor and a co-worker helping her interview candidates that she knew Paul Lee. Campbell's written response says she retired in 2016 after an unblemished career. State records show she's a now $45-an-hour IDOT technical manager.
Lee makes $56,000. He's Laura Campbell's childhood friend and contributed $1,200 to unsuccessful 2014 campaign of her husband, Jack, for Sangamon County Sheriff.
The OEIG found rampant patronage-hiring problems at IDOT previously.
Contact information for Campbell was not immediately available. An IDOT spokesman did not immediately comment.
