Illinois to Retest More CDL Holders

More Illinois truckers will be have to retake portions of their commercial driver license tests because of a bribery scandal involving state employees that just won’t go away.

Most recently, federal investigators, who continue to pursue a year-old CDL-selling racket involving managers at testing facilities outside Chicago, ordered the re-testing of 195 CDL-holders.

David Drucker, a spokesman for Secretary of State Jesse White, said the truckers will have one opportunity to take a newly written test from July 12 to 16 or face losing their driving privileges. In Illinois, the secretary of state’s responsibilities include driver licensing.

Counting this group, 3,400 commercial drivers licensed by Illinois have been forced to retake tests that were given at state facilities targeted by investigations (4-12, p. 3).

Scott R. Lassar, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, ordered the latest retests after the drivers were singled out by investigators reviewing documents from a testing center in Melrose Park, Ill.

Gov. George Ryan was secretary of state in 1998 when he ordered truckers who had received their CDLs from the Melrose Park center and another facility in McCook retested. Ryan’s initial directive came after officials uncovered an extensive scheme to sell licenses to unqualified applicants. Some of the bribe money was funneled into Ryan’s gubernatorial campaign, but investigators continue to say he was not personally involved in the problem.

For the full story, see the July 12 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.

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