Aviation Commissioner Resigns After Being Pegged As Corruption Witness

The local media calls it a revolving door -- the portal to the room where Chicago Mayor Richard Daley's cabinet meets. For the fifteenth time in recent months, a member of Hizzoner's inner circle has left the party. This time, it was Aviation Commissioner John Roberson.

Both Daley and Roberson (right) say the decision to leave was Roberson's and that it was voluntary.

But the Chicago Sun-Times reports the mayor's office installed new managing deputy in Roberson's organization, calling that a pretty clear indication that the mayor thought it was time for his aviation director to go.

Roberson's name recently turned up on a list of cooperating witnesses into suspected corruption within the Daley administration. Was Roberson intimidated into leaving?

"He wasn't frozen out or frozen in," Daley said, quoted by the Sun-Times.

"I don't know who it may have been uncomfortable for," Roberson said after he was outed as a cooperating witness in the feds' investigation. "It wasn't uncomfortable for me. I came to work every day. You can't freeze out the airport or the person who runs the airport. It's too critical to our economy," he told the Sun-Times.

"He wants to go in the private sector," Daley (right) said. "He's always wanted to go."

It was a huge change in Roberson's fortunes compared to just 19 months ago. Roberson was considered a fast-mover in Daley's inner circle. At 36, he had already been the purchasing manager for the Parks District, commissioner of Sewers, Buildings and Aviation, and executive director of Construction and Permits. He became airports commissioner in February, 2004.

FMI: www.ci.chi.il.us/Mayor