New Hiring Questions For Cook County Board President Stroger

Chicago - The son of a prominent Chicago religious family landed a $63,000 job with Cook County just days after his father gave Cook County Board President Todd Stroger a ringing re-election endorsement.

Fox Chicago News has learned 26 year old Leonard Muhammad began working as a business manager in Cook County's Facilities Management department on October 26, less than two weeks after a coalition of African-American clergy threw their support to Stroger. Muhammad is the grandson of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, and the son of Leonard Muhammad, Farrakhan's son-in-law and longtime chief of staff.

"We hire people for competence and we expect them to work hard for the county," said Stroger at an unrelated event Tuesday. But Stroger would not talk about Muhammad's credentials or whether politics played a role in his appointment. "You know I'm not going to talk to you about every person that's hired for the county," Stroger said.

On October 13 the senior Muhammad joined more than 100 ministers in endorsing Stroger's bid for re-election, and called on three other African-American candidates to withdraw from the race. In late September Rev. Farrakhan spoke before the same group, Concerned Clergy for a Better Chicagoland, and encouraged the ministers to rally behind a single African-American candidate.

A Cook County spokesperson told Fox Chicago News Muhammad first interviewed for the county job in September. Chris Geovanis said Muhammad had worked in the property management business for several years and was well qualified for the Facilities Management post, which oversees maintenance and repairs at the county's criminal courts and jail complex. The county would not provide Muhammad's resume to Fox Chicago News.

Better Government Association Director Andy Shaw said the timing of Muhammad's appointment is suspicious. "Political endorsements should not be the price you pay to get jobs for your son or grandson," said Shaw. "He may be a fine young man, but it looks like a political payoff for an endorsement. We, the taxpayers, have to foot the bill."

On Monday we found Muhammad in his office on the second floor of the criminal courts annex. Muhammad acknowledged his recent hiring by the county, but declined to talk about how he got the job. Calls to the Nation of Islam were not returned.