On the surface, at least, most of the political hacks hired by some city departments appear qualified.

Ninety-seven percent of employees in seven departments at the center of the City Hall hiring scandal meet the minimum qualifications for the jobs they hold — whether or not they got them through clout, a $76,000 audit has concluded.

Virchow, Krause & Co. LLP reviewed the personnel files of 405 employees in the departments of Aviation, Buildings, General Services, Sewers, Streets and Sanitation, Transportation and Water Management to determine whether workers met city standards. […]

The audit was conducted by perusing personnel files for driver’s license, commercial driver’s license, union journeyman’s card and resumes.

However…

The audit did not examine the process by which the workers were hired or attempt to determine whether they were the best candidates for their jobs, said Ron Huberman, chief of staff to Mayor Richard Daley.

And Cindi makes a good point.

Cindi Canary, executive director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, said the audit reveals very little.

“This report certainly is good as far as it goes,” Canary said. “It just certainly doesn’t go very far.”

“I think the question back at the city is, “How is the hiring process working?’” Canary added. “Are they in fact, in each search that they do, making sure that they are hiring the best-qualified person?”