Top Illinois diversity commissioner did not disclose side pay

By Jared Strong | The Center Square
The Center Square

(The Center Square) — The chairperson of Illinois’ diversity commission has been earning thousands of dollars each year from her former employer while also collecting a $155,000 salary from the state, according to recently amended financial disclosures.

The revelation was part of a flurry of corrections the Commission on Equity and Inclusion members made this year to their previous disclosures.

Those amendments come amid The Center Square’s ongoing investigation of their job performance and side pay.

The commissioners are allowed by law to hold jobs outside of their state roles — a perk that lawmakers have threatened to cut — but they are required to disclose the side pay if it exceeds $7,500 in a calendar year.

Nina Harris, the commission’s chairperson, did not disclose she was paid more than $7,500 in 2024 by the Springfield Urban League in her disclosure that she submitted in February 2025.

It is a crime to knowingly file “a false or incomplete statement,” which the commissioners acknowledge when they sign the disclosures. It is punishable by up to a year of imprisonment or a $2,500 fine.

But in March this year, Harris filed an amendment to the earlier report that indicated she has not stopped working as a human resources contractor for the nonprofit since she left her chief executive job there in 2021.

Harris declined to say why the income was absent from the initial filing.

“The (statement of economic interests) and amendment process exists to give individuals an opportunity to provide the most accurate and up-to-date information should there be items that need to be adjusted or updated,” she wrote in an email to The Center Square. “That is what took place in this case.”

In total, Harris’ former employer has paid her more than $31,000 while she has been working for the state. The commissioners are not required to disclose the specific amounts they have been paid, and Harris declined to reveal them to The Center Square.

Most of the seven commissioners have had paid side jobs, The Center Square found, including in the past two years when they have overseen a steep decline in the number of businesses owned by racial minorities, women and people with disabilities who are certified to get preference for state government contracts.

Expanding access to government contracts for those businesses is the primary purpose of the commission, which state lawmakers created in 2022. Each commissioner is paid a salary of about $150,000, and the agency has a staff of more than 30 people.

While total contract money for those businesses has increased — to about $1.6 billion last year — that money went to fewer businesses, and the total number of certified businesses has dropped by about half from its peak, largely due to a computer software switch that was supposed to streamline the efforts.

“This really needs to be fixed, and if it means making you guys full-time employees, I think maybe that’s what needs to happen because $150,000 a year to lose 2,600 vendors, it’s just unacceptable,” state Sen. Chapin Rose, the Republican minority caucus whip, said during a budget hearing in April.

The commission is asking the legislature for about $5.6 million of state funding for next fiscal year. That does not include the roughly $1 million the commissioners themselves are paid annually from a separate fund.

Three commissioners

Harris was one of three commissioners who corrected their previous filings this year following The Center Square’s scrutiny. The other changes were of less consequence, but came after The Center Square noted potential failures in a story.

Commissioner Benjamin Salentine revised his 2024 filing to disclose pay from his previous job with the University of Illinois at Chicago. His initial disclosure noted the pay but not in the correct location on the form.

Commissioner Ovelia Smith-Barton amended her 2024 and 2025 filings to disclose that her spouse worked as a substitute teacher for a Springfield school district. The reports require the commissioners to list other government entities that employed them or their spouse.

Harris’ most recent disclosure — which covers other income for calendar year 2025 — shows she was paid more than $8,700 by the Springfield Urban League.

That organization’s chief executive, Marcus Johnson, did not respond to a request to reveal what Harris has been paid. Its federal nonprofit filings don’t list the amounts.

The commissioners’ side pay has been questioned by state lawmakers, who in bipartisan fashion have criticized the performance of the commission during budget hearings in recent months. Other board members in state government who are paid comparably or less than the diversity commissioners are barred from holding other paid jobs.

Lawmakers have considered adjusting the requirements or structure of the commission, and some have said they want to disband it entirely.

Illinois House members indicated they would hold another hearing to question commission staff before voting whether to approve a budget request, but it has not been scheduled, and the legislative session is set to end this month.