June 26, 1987

REFORM REVENUE CHIEF OUSTED

By James Strong, Chicago Tribune.

Patrick Quinn, the city’s revenue director, was dumped from his $67,000- a-year job Thursday after a running battle with top aides to Mayor Harold Washington over Quinn’s efforts to reform the scandal-plagued department and rid it of political interference.

Quinn was named to the key administration post by the mayor last November in an effort to defuse criticism resulting from a federal investigation into City Hall corruption.

Washington also had come under fire because of the city’s failure to collect millions of dollars in delinquent fees and unpaid parking fines.

Although Washington insisted that Quinn was not “fired,” the mayor said he asked for Quinn’s resignation because of a “difference in management styles.”

Quinn, who made his reputation as a populist reformer, began clearing out his office Thursday afternoon. He said he had been told that a replacement would be announced Friday. In his letter of resignation, Quinn said, “I was summoned at a difficult time to straighten out a troubled agency and I am proud of the programs and policy changes I’ve initiated.”

Quinn’s ouster was orchestrated by Ernest Barefield, Washington’s chief of staff, and Lucille Dobbins, an administrative aide to the mayor, both of whom opposed Quinn’s appointment in the first place, according to sources within the Washington administration.

Several liberal lakefront political allies of the mayor said they felt “betrayed” by Washington because the mayor had campaigned on the promise of reform but had refused to intercede for Quinn, who critics insist carries reform to a fault.