Crain's: Water District Chief Owns Firm That Helps Polluters

By the Better Government Association and Crain's Greg Hinz - October 30, 2009 A joint review by the Better Government Association (BGA) and Crain's Greg Hinz exposes a potential conflict of interest by Terry O'Brien, President of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD). Working with the BGA, Hinz reveals in his blog today that O'Brien is 50% owner of a consulting firm boasting four clients directly regulated by the Water Reclamation District. One of O'Brien's clients, a division of chemical producer Nalco Holding Co., is listed on MWRD's Web site as having paid $1.7 million to the district in the past three years-making it the sixth-largest payer of user fees to clean up its pollution. Hinz asks, "How can an official be paid by polluters at the same time he's supposed to be policing them?" BGA Executive Director Andy Shaw calls it "the political equivalent of the fox guarding the chicken house." Terry O'Brien was first elected to the MWRD board in 1988 and is currently running for Cook County Board President. Click here to read the entire story by Greg Hinz Learn more about the Better Government Association at: http://www.bettergov.org/ Conservative Caps, Shirt and more! Leave a Comment - Chicago News Bench RSS Feed Visit us on Twitter!