Illinois Supt. of Education Ernest Wish resigned Friday after state officials said he refused to end a consulting agreement with a Chicago insurance brokerage firm whose owner was charged with fraud this week.
Ron Gidwitz, chairman of the Illinois State Board of Education, said Wish’s resignation was accepted during an emergency board meeting Friday after Wish declined to end his work as a paid consultant with Near North Insurance Brokerage Inc.
Gidwitz said Wish was given the choice of keeping his state job or his consulting work.
Near North, a Chicago firm that has been synonymous with political clout for decades, has several city and state contracts, including one with the state school board. It also is an insurance broker for the state’s Teacher Retirement System.
“The superintendent of the state board must be focused exclusively on education in the state of Illinois and not be distracted by other activities,” Gidwitz said at a news conference. “[Wish] said he felt morally obligated to continue the consulting agreement.”
More Top Picks Stand Mixer
Marilyn McConachie, the board’s vice chairwoman, acknowledged that the publicity surrounding Near North’s owner, Michael Segal, played a role in the decision. Segal resigned as the brokerage’s chief executive a few days after being charged Monday with mail and insurance fraud.
“When there’s an element of notoriety from some outside interest connected with the superintendent, it serves as a distraction,” she said.
Respicio “Res” F. Vazquez, the state board’s general counsel, was named Friday as interim superintendent to the $190,000-a-year job.
Wish, 70, a retired managing partner with the Coopers & Lybrand accounting firm and a former Chicago city clerk and revenue director, could not be reached for comment.
A spokeswoman for Near North said Wish was a paid consultant to the firm and an unpaid member of an advisory board to the brokerage’s board of directors. She could not provide details about the consulting work, including how much Wish was paid and how long he was involved with Near North.
Federal authorities allege Segal embezzled insurance premiums that were supposed to be set aside in a fund before they were paid to insurance carriers. He is accused of misappropriating $20 million for business acquisitions and personal and business expenses.
Wish was appointed interim superintendent on Nov. 26 while the state board searched for a permanent replacement for Glenn “Max” McGee, who was forced out last year.
Wish’s departure comes at a delicate time for the board, an $8 billion agency that oversees broad educational policies for the state’s 891 school districts. The board is proceeding with an aggressive reform campaign that touches nearly every aspect of public education, including student testing, punishing and assisting troubled schools, revamping teacher licensing, and creating a better school financing structure.
Gidwitz said that a school board lawyer became aware of the consulting agreement during an interview with Wish before he was hired.
Gidwitz said he was informed of Wish’s consulting work for Near North by Vazquez, who was preparing Wish’s employment contract. Gidwitz said he then asked Wish to end his consulting work with any outside body–well before Near North’s legal problems were public.
“[Wish] told me he would be working 70 hours a week as state superintendent and nothing would interfere with that,” Gidwitz said.
Gidwitz said he interpreted Wish’s statement to mean he would end the consulting contract with Near North, though Wish never directly said that.
“It was a miscommunication,” said Gidwitz, who said he doesn’t believe Wish misled him.
Near North has had yearly contracts, for at least five years, with the state school board to provide insurance for warehoused computer equipment. This year’s deal is worth about $4,500, and was signed before Wish became superintendent.
Near North also has a $315,000 contract with the Illinois Teacher Retirement System, the agency that oversees the teacher pension fund. The three-year deal was signed Nov. 30, according to Jon Bauman, executive director of the agency.
The state superintendent of education serves as chairman of the retirement system’s board. Wish was hired by the state board Nov. 26 but did not officially take the helm until Jan. 1, so he did not vote on the Near North contract, Bauman said.