CHICAGO –– Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White today announced
the restructuring of his administration to provide the Inspector
General’s office with additional resources to root out corruption
and provide assistance to federal investigators.
The new structure provides a special counsel in charge of
the General Counsel’s office and a special counsel to the
Inspector General.
"I remain 100 percent committed to assisting the federal
investigation and rooting out corruption in the Secretary of
State’s office," said White. "The new Special Counsel to the
Inspector General will provide the extra assistance necessary to
get that job done."
White appointed Michael Igoe as the new special counsel in
charge of overseeing the operations of the General Counsel’s
office. He will be Secretary White’s chief legal counsel in
charge of the operations of the administration.
He then named Ms. Irene Lyons as the new Special Counsel to
the Inspector General to serve as a liaison with the US
Attorney’s office. In the newly created position, Ms. Lyons will
be working solely on cases surrounding the federal investigation.
"My aim is to create a more efficient General Counsel’s
office," said White. "Within this new structure I have devoted a
full-time attorney to assist in the federal investigation."
In addition to the restructuring of the General Counsel’s
office, White also announced that Tammy Raynor has taken a
position as an investigative analyst with the Inspector General’s
office. Raynor, who originally helped uncover the scandal, will
evaluate all CDL facilities in the state. Ms. Raynor will be
able to report any problems directly to the Inspector General and
provide Secretary White with recommendations to improve CDL
facility operations.
"Ms. Raynor has shown great courage in her efforts to stop
corruption," said White. "She has proven to be very
knowledgeable about the licensing process for CDL’s and we will
count on her experience to help us uncover and eliminate employee
misconduct and the methods used by unqualified applicants to
cheat the system."
White is currently reviewing applicants for the position of
Inspector General. Joseph Gabuzzi, deputy to the Inspector
General, is serving as the interim Inspector General.
