Clerk of the Circuit Court Dorothy Brown has dropped the controversial Jeans Day program that deep-sixed her bid for County Board president, according to a report by Fox Chicago News.
Fox obtained an internal memo describing the decision, in which Brown blamed media coverage and employee unrest.
The Jeans Day program required employees to pay $2 or $3 for the privelege of wearing jeans to work. The money purportedly was donated to charities, including one for victims of Hurricane Katrina and another for an employee whose home burned down.
But there was scant accounting and, as Andy Shaw, executive director for the Better Government Association told Fox, it "didn't pass the smell test."
Brown had come under fire in the past, after news reports of employees giving her cash gifts for her birthday surfaced. During the campaign, she sued one of her opponents, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District President Terrence O'Brien, for slandering her ethics in a campaign ad.
Brown's attorney, Adam Lasker, says the case is pending and in the middle of settlement negotiations.