The continuing saga of scandals intertwined with politics at Joliet Junior College took an unusual turn Tuesday when the college’s former police chief filed a $6 million federal lawsuit, claiming board members ousted him in a personal vendetta to get rid of a “whistle-blower.”
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Chicago, is just the latest chapter in an embarrassing year of accusations and cross accusations at the country’s oldest community college. Already this year, the board members launched, and then dropped, a probe into alleged wrongdoing by the college president; fired at least three long-term school administrators; and threatened to unseat each other during the next election.
“It’s been a full year,” said David Cryer, chairman of the college’s board of trustees.
The most recent fight began in February when–despite positive recommendations by the college president–trustees voted 4-2 not to renew the contracts of three top administrators, including Jerry Zeborowski, who had been the school’s police chief for 15 years.
Zeborowski filed suit in federal court Tuesday claiming he was fired “for retaliatory reasons” and because he had “come to be known as a whistle-blower regarding matters of public concern.”
The suit names the board of trustees as a whole and specifically the four members who voted not to renew Zeborowski’s contract: Cryer, John Hertko and his wife, Marilyn Hertko, and Susan Block Gregurich.
John Hertko dismissed the lawsuit as politics as usual.
“This is an act of desperation, and I think there are political motivations,” said Hertko, who was elected to the board in 1993. “The new majority (of the board of trustees) is a younger group of people trying to break up this good old-boy network who had their way for 30 years at the college.”
Zeborowski claims in his suit that he was fired from his $54,000-a-year job because, nine years earlier, he had recommended that Cryer, who worked as a campus security officer, be disciplined.
The suit claims “Cryer unlawfully entered the . . . college with the intention of making photocopies.” The suit contends the illegal act was caught on videotape.
Zeborowski said in a phone interview Wednesday that he recommended college trustees fire Cryer over the incident. Cryer later left the job over a health issue.
On Wednesday, Cryer, elected to the board in 1991, denied the charge.
Zeborowski also claims in his suit that in 1993 or 1994, John Hertko “insisted” that he “make certain false statements concerning the school president.” Zeborowski refused, the suit contends. The former police chief would not elaborate on the charge.
Hertko, for his part, denied the assertion. “I have no idea what he is talking about,” Hertko said. “I never asked him to do such a thing.”
Board members have not publicly stated, nor would they say Wednesday, why they fired Zeborowski. Hertko declined to comment, calling the matter a “personnel” issue. Cryer would only say: “I thought we could do better.”
But in his lawsuit, Zeborowski contends that the “members of the board of trustees have publicly stated that the non-renewal of Zeborowski’s contract was based on a personal vendetta.”
Zeborowski’s suit comes on the heels of another public battle that also was colored by accusations of politics. It, too, split the board and rattled the community.
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Earlier this year, trustees, spurred on by Cryer, launched an investigation into allegations that college President Thomas Gamble “coerced” employees to perform yard and other maintenance work at his Joliet home–sometimes while they were on college time.
Gamble argued that he paid the employees for their work. But Cryer asked the Will County state’s attorney’s office and the Joliet Police Department to investigate. Both groups refused, saying there was no basis for a criminal investigation.
Unsatisfied, Cryer reportedly suggested at a closed-door board meeting that trustees hire a private detective. But finally, five months later, Cryer backed off when Gamble turned over canceled checks.