By Fran Spielman
The Chicago Sun-Times
CHICAGO — One month after O’Hare Airport’s ousted security chief called O’Hare the “least secure airport in the country,” City Hall has chosen a 28-year veteran Chicago firefighter to take his place.
Richard Edgeworth, director of training for the Chicago Fire Department, replaces career police officer Jim Maurer, who was forced out last fall.
Edgeworth will be paid $161,000 a year, a 9 percent increase from his current salary and 23 percent more than Maurer was paid.
Aviation Commissioner Rosemarie Andolino said she chose Edgeworth because of his vast experience as a first responder. A law enforcement background was not necessary because O’Hare has the FBI, TSA, U.S. Customs, Homeland Security and the Secret Service, she said.
“He’s got great credentials. He’s proven himself. He brings people together. He educates. He’s been trained in incident management, chemical and biological issues, haz-mat and weapons of mass destruction,” she said.
“He’s a first responder with a background in incident training and building management. He has the ability to secure a scene. Look at that case in New York when they had to clear a terminal. That’s moving people safely. That’s what Fire does all the time.”
For the first time, Andolino also responded to the charge that she fired Maurer because he raised security concerns she didn’t want to hear because she was hell-bent on building new runways.
In a $2 million lawsuit he filed against the city, Maurer said Andolino falsely claimed she was firing him because he “physically attacked” one of her top lieutenants.
But Maurer charges that he was really forced out for raising security concerns, including a manpower shortage so severe, there are “as few as two armed officers patrolling the entire airport” some nights. Maurer also chastised Andolino for allowing 10,000 private vehicles each day to park on the secure side of the airfield.
“That situation has been there for as long as the airport has been in existence. I’ve been on the job for less than a year. What did he do about it for the four years he worked there?” she said.
She called Maurer’s claims about O’Hare “an insult to the men and women who work at our airport every day to protect it.”
Maurer was puzzled by the choice of a firefighter to take his place.
“Jane Byrne was gonna make me the fire commissioner once and that didn’t make a lot sense. This sounds [equally] peculiar,” he said.
“I don’t know what the guy’s qualifications are. He’s got to have some background in security — some law enforcement background. He’s gonna be in charge of a Police Department for all practical purposes.”
Edgeworth did not return repeated phone calls.
The aviation security chief presides over an $11.8 million-a-year budget and 220 employees.
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