Governor Ousts Glencoe Resident From Illinois State Police Merit Board

Berlin was appointed to the board in June 2017 by former Gov. Bruce Rauner. The merit board oversees the hiring, promotion and disciplinary process for state troopers.

After his term expired, Pritzker reappointed Berlin to the board in July 2019, despite the fact that Berlin had donated handily to Rauner during the previous year's campaign.

But that appointment was pending confirmation by the Illinois Senate, and when Pritzker withdrew his request for senators' approval, that marked the end of this term, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Berlin is the CEO and chair of a Chicago-based packaging company, a partner owner of the Chicago Cubs and the chairman and owner of the team's minor league affiliate, the South Bend Cubs.

He also serves on the three-member Glencoe Public Safety Commission, which handles appointments to the village's combined police and fire department.

The turnover at the top of the merit board follows the recent replacement of its executive director and indictment of its finance officer. Berlin has not been accused of wrongdoing.

Jenny Thorney was fired by the merit board in July 2020 after more than seven years at the agency. In September, she was charged in Sangamon County on charges of forgery, theft and official misconduct.

Describing herself as a "whistleblower," she told the State Journal-Register that she had been targeted for reporting sexual harassment and assault by former Executive Director Jack Garcia, who denies the accusations. Garcia departed for a job in suburban Burbank and was succeeded as executive director by Emily Fox.

An internal merit board investigation by the law firm McGuireWoods found that there was sufficient evidence that Thornley paid herself for unearned overtime but insufficient evidence to show that Garcia sexually assaulted her, according to court documents cited by the Journal-Register.

In a federal lawsuit filed in April that names the merit board as a defendant, Thornley alleges that Garcia groped her breast while in the office in January 2020, and when she resisted, told her, "Maybe if you dressed a little more like, Emily [Fox], we would get along better."