Cook County commissioner steps down months after FBI raid
Jeffrey Tobolski | Cook County government website
CHICAGO - A Cook County commissioner whose office and home were raided by FBI agents last fall and whose chief of staff was charged with federal bribery charges last month notified the president of the board on Friday that he’s resigning.
Commissioner Jeffrey Tobolski, in a one-sentence letter, told Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle that he's stepping down, effective March 31. He did not give a reason and he did not immediately return a call to his office for comment. Tobolski also on Friday resigned as mayor of the village of McCook.
Tbolski hasn't been charged with any crime, but in September, FBI agents raided his home and his McCook office. After that raid, he stopped attending meetings, prompting Preckwinkle to request that he step down from his committee leadership posts. In November, Tobolski resigned from those posts for what he said in a letter to Preckwinkle were “current health issues.”
Last month, his chief of staff, Patrick Doherty, was indicted on three counts of bribery. The indictment contends that Doherty, a sales agent for a red-light camera company, conspired to pay a relative of a trustee in a suburban Chicago village approximately $4,000 to secure approval to install the company’s cameras.