Reform and renewal, Part 97,486
Monday, Jul 17, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller
Buried deep in this AP story about how veterans groups and even House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie are upset at Gov. Blagojevich for allegedly circumventing veterans preference in state hiring and not disclosing whether veterans were passed over for connected job applicants is this nugget:
The Associated Press reported recently that Bernard Ysursa Jr., a 34-year-old Belleville resident, competed against eight other applicants for business administrator at an East St. Louis prison. Corrections officials declared him the best candidate but designated him as an intern when they put him on the payroll in April 2003, saying he needed more experience.
A document newly obtained by the AP shows that the agency decided to make the position an internship before Ysursa interviewed — not after. The “personnel action request” signed by the Corrections Department’s interim director approved creating a trainee position for the business administrator on March 26, 2003, a full week before Ysursa’s interview. […]
Hiring Ysursa as an intern meant the administration did not have to give preference to any veterans or minorities on the list of applicants.
Meanwhile, the governor has now revamped political hiring procedures for at least the third time.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s top attorney has ordered state agency directors to stop taking requests for politically connected job applicants and said a new system was being established to ensure that such clout requests would be “processed and treated like any other application.” […]
“Each agency may have its own system of processing these requests and referrals, but in the interest of uniformity, and to insure the integrity of process, from this point forward, all personnel requests and referrals shall be directed” to a top official at the Department of Central Management Services, the state’s personnel and office management agency, Quinlan wrote.
“Accordingly, if someone contacts you (either in person, by telephone, mail or facsimile) regarding a personnel request or referral, you should not accept the request,” Quinlan’s memo said. “Rather, please politely inform the person making the request that, pursuant to the policies of the Governor’s Office, all such personnel requests must be directed to … CMS.”
The guy who wrote this letter, Blagojevich’s general counsel William Quinlan, is the same person who sent the memo to 15 state agencies a few weeks ago demanding all personnel records back to 2003.
And on a related note, my weekly newspaper column isn’t posted as I write this, but it should be soon.
“I’ve researched this pretty carefully,” confided a very high level Blagojevich administration official last spring over late night cocktails. “For any of this to be illegal, somebody has to profit. There has to be money involved.”
The official was responding to my questions about the swirling allegations of state contracts and jobs handed out to political insiders. Since there was no personal profit, nobody was in any serious legal danger, he claimed.
This month’s verdict in Robert Sorich’s trial, however, proved that person to be dead wrong.
It would be a big mistake to underestimate the significance of Robert Sorich’s conviction by a federal jury. Federal prosecutors never claimed that Sorich, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley’s former patronage chief, took so much as a dollar in illegal payments.
UPDATE: The AP has a Q&A on the burgeoning scandal. Here’s one interesting section:
Q: What are some specific examples?
A: Officials aren’t providing details, but The Associated Press has found, for instance, that one person was hired for a job in a small county with few veterans but was allowed to work in Chicago. If the hiring had been done in Chicago, veterans who applied would have had priority. The Blagojevich administration also hired the son of a campaign donor but called him an intern, which exempted him from the usual hiring procedures. In fact, the administration has hired scores of politically connected people as interns.
[Emphasis added]
- vole - Monday, Jul 17, 06 @ 6:45 am:
Rich,
Does creating the intern position a week before Ysursa’s interview instead of after his interview make the charge stick more or less? If all the applicants were aware that this was an intern position before they applied, that is one thing, but if this was done after most of the applicants had submitted their applications that is quite another thing. Changing job descriptions in mid stream seems kind of fishy. And, not releasing the names of the other applicants still spells (smells) dead fishy.
- just curious - Monday, Jul 17, 06 @ 7:12 am:
I know this doesn’t relate to the whole veteran’s preference stuff, but has anyone else noticed that the Governor’s Summer Youth Workers program - touted in press releases in June (The St. Louis Post Dispatch had the most interesting one) as providing “1100 jobs to low-income high school and college students to help in their communities” seems (at least at DHS) to be providing jobs for the children of DHS workers who are hardly low income? Or that, in spite of the state’s dire financial straits there was money to print up t-shirts for all those students to wear and pose in last week? or that of the years that he’s been in office, this summer before an election is the first time that the Governor has had a summer youth workers program?
- Ridiculous! - Monday, Jul 17, 06 @ 7:39 am:
So…. we’ll solve the hiring tampering by referring all requests to…. CMS!?!?!?!?!?!
ROTFLMAO
- Anonymous - Monday, Jul 17, 06 @ 7:41 am:
Still more agency functions concentrated in the hands of CMS. These agency people, hand-picked by Rod, do not trust each other so how can the average citizen trust them? These people are scum and CMS is the bottom of the barrel.
Also, I thought none of the merit comp people were going to get a raise, yet a selected few have received huge raises. I wonder who at CMS was bought off?
- Little Egypt - Monday, Jul 17, 06 @ 8:31 am:
Liar, liar, pants on fire. Since Joe Cini’s butt is in a sling, all Blogo is doing is delegating this personnel work to “a top official at CMS” (translation - Blogo’s boy). It’s still “business as usual”. Cini is out of this picture now because Fitzgerald is hot on his trail. There is nothing Blogo can do short of admitting that he has not been truthful with all of us and he is choosing not to run for re-election. Like that will happen.
- one of the 35 - Monday, Jul 17, 06 @ 8:46 am:
Rich:
Where did these Illinois government officials get the mistaken notion that you only break the law if you profit financially? That seemed to be a large part of George Ryan’s defense. Now the dems appear to have adopted the same line of reasoning. Sheeesh!
- Schiznitz - Monday, Jul 17, 06 @ 9:15 am:
*tick, tick, tick*
- DOWNSTATE - Monday, Jul 17, 06 @ 9:20 am:
The summer worker program is for Democrats only.A laid off IDNR worker with experience tried to get back on as a summer worker and he was denied while other people his age were hired and all had Democrat connections.The only reason was so the rumor goes is he was a Republican.Sounds to me like this new directive is a little like closing the barn door after the horse gets out probably closer to circle the wagons and lawyer up.
- Cassandra - Monday, Jul 17, 06 @ 9:32 am:
Clearly, the intern classification is easily manipulated to allow patronage hiring and the Dems are taking advantage of this. I doubt this loophole was created under Blago, though, although to his discredit he has done nothing
to close it.
And apparently CMS is going to become the equivalent of “the fifth floor,” in Chicago City govt, with respect to hiring decisions. Should be a lot easier for the politically connected to make referrals…instead of going through an assortment of different agency managers who may or may not be fully cognizant of what they are supposed to do about these referrals, the CMS folks will know exactly what to do with them and will also do a better job of concealing their actions from the feds and from the public. After all, practice makes perfect.
Remember, the Democrats really don’t believe there is anything wrong with patronage hiring.
They believe that if the politically connected candidate meets the minimum (and I mean minimum)
standards of the job, it’s okay to give the job to him/her. That’s why we keep hearing so much about various controversial hires being “qualified.”
- B Hicks - Monday, Jul 17, 06 @ 9:59 am:
Bernie is more than qualified for his “High Level” position with corrections.
- Yvette - Monday, Jul 17, 06 @ 10:07 am:
Classifying it as intern position is a way to skirt the vet preference, right? The assumption is that they already have the list, vets are on the list, and vets would automatically get the job.
By making it an intern spot, you don’t have to hire a vet. You can hire who you want. They new this guy was applying, knew he wouldn’t get it because of the vet requirement, and so created a new classification so that he would get the job.
Rich, is this correct?
- Anonymous - Monday, Jul 17, 06 @ 10:16 am:
Hey Cassandra 9:32 am, The Dems aren’t the only party that engages in political hiring, the Repubs had over a quarter century jump on the Dems, rest assured there are plenty of “rats” still onboard the ship of state…get a grip honey…
If the current administration did circumvent the Veterans preference hiring requirement, it’s a double shame cause we’re AT WAR in the Middle East…fight for your country, lay yer butt on the line, buts oops–but the State of IL can’t hire ya…the job goes to the relative of a Dem power broker…sad, sad, sad…
- Randall Sherman, Secretary/Treasurer, Illinois Committee for Honest Government - Monday, Jul 17, 06 @ 11:07 am:
The shame to our state will remain as long as Rod Blagojevich continues to infest the office of Governor.
- Cassandra - Monday, Jul 17, 06 @ 11:33 am:
Anon 10:16 am
I clearly stated that I doubted Blago had created the intern loophole.
But the fact that Blago takes advantage of the loophole is not excused by the likelihood that Repubs took the same advantage.
And if both parties continue to follow the same corrupt policies, we voters must take responsibility for continuing to vote them in without a mandate for change.
- Hard Working Taxpayer - Monday, Jul 17, 06 @ 11:54 am:
I’ve said it before, and I will say it again: When is someone going to request an FOIA into the raises that have been given to Blago’s people while merit comp employees hired prior to his administration get nothing. I think if someone looks into that - that is a huge story in itself…
- Bill - Monday, Jul 17, 06 @ 12:28 pm:
Who wants to bet that “Hard Working” is a merit comp republican patronage holdover employee
Besides, I thought that they got a 4% raise. some people are never satisfied!
- Yvette - Monday, Jul 17, 06 @ 1:36 pm:
Skirting the vet rules goes on at every agency. This isn’t unique.
- Gregor - Monday, Jul 17, 06 @ 1:45 pm:
Now, wait a minute… Going to put CMS personnel in charge of all the hiring, as it basically was supposed to be all along… only, isn’t much of the recent hiring scandal FROM stuff going on there that wasn’t kosher in the first place?
I think Abbott & Costello already wrote this bit… CMS=THIRD BASE!
- gotta be anonymous - Monday, Jul 17, 06 @ 2:21 pm:
good point. When did CMS stop handling all the hiring for the state? - oh wait - I think it was about three years ago.
- Anon. - Monday, Jul 17, 06 @ 4:12 pm:
The revamped political hiring procedures is a joke. This administration will still get their hacks employment through the Rutan Exempt process. I bet we see an influx of positions that are Rutan Exempt for several state agencies. The Civil Service Commission is charged with assuring that these positions are properly classified. The need exists for checks and balances to assure that only those true upper level policy making positions receive the Rutan Exempted status. I believe the Civil Service Commission has been too politicized to perform this function. I encourage the establishment of some kind of non-partisan committee to review the determination of Rutan Exempted position.
For example, IDOT created a Rutan Exempt job description called “Staff Assistant.” The job description included that the person serves as a spokesperson (even though true spokespersons have been reassigned to CMS), assists in the development of policy, serves as liaison between the director and Governor’s Office, the legislature, other state agencies, blah blah blah. IDOT uses this job description to bring in their political hacks - in various Technical Manager levels. They actually used this job description to hire a TM II (borderline clerical). It had more power than the Bureau Chief’s job description (TM VIII). After 6 months of a probationary period, the person is “snuck” into a coded position (Rutan covered).
- "B Tream" - Monday, Jul 17, 06 @ 5:17 pm:
Bill - Monday, Jul 17, 06 @ 12:28 pm: Who wants to bet that “Hard Working†is a merit comp republican patronage holdover employee
Besides, I thought that they got a 4% raise. some people are never satisfied!
The 4% raise that the merit comp folks got was last December. It was the first raise in nearly 3 years. On top of the no raises for 3 years, they also had to start paying 4% of their salaries into the pension system. Public Official A took back a 4% raise that was given to them in 1992 in lieu of a pay raise.
How would you like to work for 3 years without a raise and a pay cut? How would you like to work for an agency where the Secretary & Director does nothing except denegrate and abuse the staff.
Not all of us a political hacks. Not all of us got our job because of who we knew. The vast majority of us got our jobs because of what we know through legit means, i.e. a job interview from an application that didn’t have an extra boost from a politician. The vast majority of us are apolitical because we are afraid of losing our jobs even though we may be in Rutan protected jobs.
Next time you shoot your mouth off, know what you are talking about.
- anon - Monday, Jul 17, 06 @ 6:14 pm:
I know the IDOT stuff, we have had 2 “staff assistants” hired, 1 was made a Technical manager 2 (she does work hard!!), the other was recently made a Technical Manager 4 (we still do not know what she does, I don’t think she even knows).
It’s a joke at our district office……
- IDOT 2 - Monday, Jul 17, 06 @ 7:54 pm:
There are several staff assistants and assistant to assistant directors at IDOT Traffic Safety. Also all the “liaisons” from the now defunct Office of Exteranal (I meant external but I like the mispelled version better) Affairs AKA Governor’s Hacks moved over to Traffic Safety where they laid all the people off and noone knows what they do either.
- Toxman - Monday, Jul 17, 06 @ 8:02 pm:
Accordingly, if someone contacts you (either in person, by telephone, mail or facsimile) regarding a personnel request or referral, you should not accept the request,†Quinlan’s memo said. “Rather, please politely inform the person making the request that, pursuant to the policies of the Governor’s Office, all such personnel requests must be directed to … CMS.â€
How about just saying, “Ignore the request”? Is CMS or anyone else actually supposed to be considering these requests as part of the hiring process? I don’t think so. Refer it to CMS? Are you kidding me? Another dropped ball by this bunch……
- North of I-80 - Monday, Jul 17, 06 @ 8:50 pm:
To Vole 645A: paperwork all goes in and before the interviews are scheduled, paperwork gets reviewed. THEN if it looks like there are other more qualified applicants, you change the job to an INTERN job and schedule the interviews… for about a week later.
Update: The Q + A article is the best summary of these antics so far.
- Disgusted - Monday, Jul 17, 06 @ 9:24 pm:
Internships are a popular way to find jobs for some politician’s friends. If you make someone an intern, when they have finished their “internship”, they can be promoted to the top, without having to work their way up or prove that they know something. Vet’s preference, qualifications, education - not necessary. They served an internship!!!
- Anon. - Monday, Jul 17, 06 @ 9:58 pm:
IDOT 2 - 7:54 p.m. - I will tell you what the Office of External Affairs is doing, handling fraudulent contracts and approving questionable billings. Just ask Mr. Holland. Better yet, ask the FBI - hahahahahahahaha -
- state worker #1 - Monday, Jul 17, 06 @ 10:02 pm:
Hey Anon. - Monday, Jul 17, 06 @ 4:12 pm: the same thing happened at IDOT in my District. To start off, a position was created - assistant to the Administration Manager. The first person that was brought in to do it decided that he didn’t want to sit behind a desk all day so he was transferred to work with the computers. They then brought in another person to be the assistant, she didn’t have anything to do, so they went around to all the other people in Administration and ‘reassigned’ some of the simple work to keep her busy. After six months (you guessed it) she was transferred to a more permanent union position. We then hired another assistant. The newest assistant is now looking into getting in the Teamsters Union.
We had another person who started last January 2005 as a ‘winter temp’ intern. She was reassigned to a summer intern, then a fall intern, then winter intern (2006), then a summer intern (2006) – well guess what – a permanent ET 1 position opened up. Guess who the ONLY person was to interview for this position – if you guess the winter-summer-fall-winter-summer temp, then you are correct. We have NEVER had just one person interview for an ET I position.
In addition, why do we still have an ‘Office of External Affairs’ in our District? The sign is still posted outside of the office where they sit?
- Criminal Enterprise Called Illinois - Tuesday, Jul 18, 06 @ 1:47 am:
In the early 1990’s it appeared that highly qualified people were hired as public administration interns, at least in a few instances/agencies. Seems the title has been tweaked to a fine art form. At the Department of Public Health, I heard that crooked supervisors would just “pull” a posting down if someone they didn’t want applied for the job. Presto bingo - no more job vacancy. Or, they would write the job description to fit the candidate they wanted, with real obscure qualifications that only a very few could meet. Not because the job called for highly qualified people - because it called for strange unusual qualifications that the average good candidate wouldn’t have or those requirements that didn’t really fit the job. The games people play with other people’s lives. Immoral and illegal.
- Bill - Tuesday, Jul 18, 06 @ 7:23 am:
B Team,
I take it that the B doesn’t stand for Blogojevich!If conditions are soooooooo bad for the “Merit” comp employees maybe you should move on to the private sector since you are so qualified, so over worked and so underpaid. I’m sure that we can find someone to take your place….maybe an intern!
- IDOT 2 - Tuesday, Jul 18, 06 @ 8:08 am:
To IDOT #1, there were about 20 laid off teamsters back in 2004 who Local #916 hasn’t done anything for because they are getting more teamsters dues thru all this illegal hiring.