Emanuel 'Personally Angry' Over Water Commissioner Emails
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The firing of the city's water commissioner is a first step toward changing the culture of the department, according to Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
The Emanuel Administration announced the resignation of Barrett Murphy and said Randy Conner would take his place.
Murphy lost his $170,000 a year job after the newly reappointed Inspector General, Joe Ferguson, uncovered an email scandal, which is said to include racist and sexist emails. The emails, which Murphy reportedly failed to address, made their way around the Department of Water Management.
An Emanuel spokesperson tells CBS 2 the mayor was "really personally angry" about the matter. Emanuel said, "There is zero tolerance, in my view, for anything -- policies or any expressions -- that are contradictory to who we are as a city, especially when the taxpayers are paying for your salary. And so we made a change, not only in personnel, but there will be a change in culture."
Two other Water Dept. higher-ups are out as well.
Murphy has been a city employee for nearly 20 years and has close ties to the mayor through his wife, Lynn Lockwood, the former chairman and treasurer of one of Emanuel's political funds.