Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Chicago Tribune
by Mickey Ciokajlo

Cook County cannot afford to pay a federal monitor to oversee hiring, board President Bobbie Steele said Tuesday in response to an allegation that county officials violated restrictions on political patronage.

Lawyer Michael Shakman asked a federal judge to appoint a monitor in a motion filed Monday seeking to have the county held in contempt for allegedly violating a 1994 civil court order prohibiting politics in most personnel decisions.
U.S. District Judge Wayne Andersen last year appointed a monitor to oversee hiring at Chicago City Hall in the wake of a burgeoning hiring scandal there that has since resulted in criminal convictions by a federal jury.

No criminal wrongdoing has been alleged in county hiring.

"Whoever's pushing for monitors to come in, I hope they help me find some money to balance the budget," said Steele, adding that Chicago has spent "an enormous amount of money" on its federal monitor.

Tony Peraica, the Republican county commissioner running for board president, called for a federal monitor to be brought in "as the only way to get to the bottom" of political hiring in the county.

Peraica, and Shakman, cited a Chicago Sun-Times report that said a county official recommended a politically connected applicant get a job over a more qualified job-seeker.

Steele said she didn't want to spend money "to satisfy someone's campaign request."

Steele defended the more than 1,600 county hires made since Dec. 1, many of them after former board President John Stroger suffered a stroke.

She said that more than half of the new employees work for other county elected officials such as the sheriff. Steele said she had no indication of any "impropriety" in the hires.

Steele issued an executive order banning patronage hiring but acknowledged it did not change county hiring rules.

She said it was a "reaffirmation to regain public trust and to send a message to those who hire in the county that we want a fair and equitable system in determining non-exempt positions."

Peraica called Steele's action "redundant and unnecessary," citing the Shakman order the county signed 12 years ago.