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Governor Blagojevich claims he has walled off politics from the state. He wouldn’t even take a political question at the Statehouse during the final week of spring session. He also says fundraising has nothing to do with government operations.
So, I can’t help but wonder why the governor’s chief of staff accompanied Blagojevich to a Washington, DC fundraiser this week. On the governor’s other arm was John Wyma, who has parlayed his 2002 campaign work into a big bucks lobbying career, despite the fact that he is rarely in Springfield.
Meanwhile, the AP has discovered that a qualified pilot who is also a veteran wasn’t even called for a job interview for an opening to fly state planes. Instead, the job went to a congressman’s son-in-law after the governor’s office contacted CMS.
CMS spokesman Justin DeJong said there are sometimes gaps between the time a job applicant’s test is graded and the time it is officially entered into the pool of candidates. He said information must be manually entered into what he called an “antiquated system.”“Unfortunately there was a lag time between when this gentleman got a grade and when the information was entered into the system,” DeJong said.
The pilot who did get the job, Brian Keen, screwed up his paperwork and wasn’t initially rated as qualified until, apparently, after the guv’s office intervened.
Keen got the job because he was the most qualified military veteran living in the state who was on the list of applicants, DeJong said.
Um, right.
Famed test pilot Chuck Yeager was also on the list, but he was not rated as qualified, DeJong said.“He flies too fast,” DeJong explained.
OK, I made up that last part.
The pilot who wasn’t hired is a relative of a Topinka ally, so this isn’t as cut and dried as it looks, but these administration explanations are getting weaker by the day.
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Jun 27, 06 @ 8:19 am
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The Governor is just trying to help the poor pilot out. The dude probably received his transfer papers to Fort Wayne, from Rummy, George, and the BRAC commission.
Comment by B Hicks Tuesday, Jun 27, 06 @ 9:29 am
Blagojevich is a fraud.
Comment by VanillaMan Tuesday, Jun 27, 06 @ 9:55 am
That antiquated computer system excuse seems a bit weak. No matter how antiquated it is, how long can it take to enter a grade onto the database. 5 seconds? 10 seconds, while you wait to see if it took. Nope, sounds like another case of government employees not feeling like working too hard. After all, they have ironclad job security so it doesn’t really matter how long it takes them to do anything.
As to the successful candidate… if we took politics out of this and were applying for a state job ourselves wouldn’t we want the flexibility to correct incomplete or inaccurate paperwork. Although Blago almost certainly plays politics with Rutan-protected jobs (he is a Chicago Democrat, after all) this one may not be the best example.
And I doubt that there is any law against calling about the status of an application.
The problem may be how the state employees receiving the call interpret what is expected of them. Maybe state employees need more ethics training too.
Comment by Cassandra Tuesday, Jun 27, 06 @ 10:01 am
Did everyone know Al Grosbal was part of the AccordianGal brain trust? Wow it is all getting clearer now. First, the Loser Corps donates Brickhead The Executioner as LiteGov. Then they send JimmyE to remind everyone he was for raising taxes while defending the stealth camppaign. Now this. Keep up the good work boys.
Comment by Reddbyrd Tuesday, Jun 27, 06 @ 10:13 am
I really liked the Chuck Yeager line.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Jun 27, 06 @ 10:24 am
Sorry Cassandra but all state employees take and obey the ethics rules except for the Governor and his cheating,lying appointees.
Comment by DOWNSTATE Tuesday, Jun 27, 06 @ 10:29 am
The reason that John Harris is in DC is that the Governor and Mayor Daley are briefing the Congressional Delegation on the Joint asks for Illinois. The funder was after hours, not on state time…why is Harris being there such an issue? There are legit reasons for him to be in DC, and since the event was during off time…
Comment by Nice Suit Tuesday, Jun 27, 06 @ 11:07 am
Of all the candidates available, the job goes to the son-in-law of a member of Congress who happens to “check” on the progress of the hiring process, but a qualified, licensed, Vet experienced pilot can’t get an interview. The fact that the son-in-law had a difficulty getting the license pocedure completed was not relevent. Yeah, that makes sense. I feel safer already.
Comment by zatoichi Tuesday, Jun 27, 06 @ 11:36 am
The Feds need to look at IDOT’s Finance Director’s computer hard drive that they pulled when the Power Washing fiasco came about. There more than likely is an email relevant to this issue. Maybe then we will know the truth.
Comment by Anon. Tuesday, Jun 27, 06 @ 12:14 pm
For Facts, please go to:
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-pilot27.html
“Transportation Department spokesman Matt Vanover said Keen lacked the air-transport pilot’s license needed for the job because he wasn’t required to have one for his work flying KC-135 Sratotankers and F-15 fighter jets for the Air National Guard.
“He’s had a pilot’s license since he was an 18-year-old,” Vanover said, noting Keen joined the guard in 1995. “Once he found out he needed [the air-transport license] he went out and got that.”
“
Comment by sam Tuesday, Jun 27, 06 @ 12:20 pm
Also from AP:
“Taft produced a letter from the state’s hiring agency, the Department of Central Management Services, showing that he had applied and was deemed qualified for the job on Sept. 4, 2003. The department gave him a grade of “A,” meaning well-qualified for the position.
On Sept. 9, the Transportation Department asked CMS for a list of applicants from which it could hire a new pilot to fly state planes, including those carrying Gov. Rod Blagojevich.”
Is the bottom line of this story about a 5 day delay in processing? If there were manual processes involved would that be out of the question?
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Jun 27, 06 @ 12:36 pm
While I agree it’s a super-shady deal, saying 5 days is a bit inaccurate — in September of 2003, the 6th and 7th were Saturday and Sunday, otherwise known as non-working-days. It’s also possible that the data WAS entered on the 4th, but the overall system (i.e. CMS-wide or DCEO-wide) didn’t update till the afternoon of the 9th, or even the 10th; meaning that the application processed on Thursday wouldn’t show up on Tuesday’s list.
Comment by Anon Tuesday, Jun 27, 06 @ 12:53 pm
Ok. But wasn’t this job still open to apply for when Taft applied for it? So why was he shut out of the hiring process, even if it was inefficient? They all knew it was inefficient, purportedly, and so should have waited for timely applications to come through.
Comment by Inquiring Mind Tuesday, Jun 27, 06 @ 1:26 pm
It’s all just a plot by lazy state workers with iron clad security! They are out to get Blago! They have so much free time that they spend it devising ways to topple Blago, just aks Cassandra.
Comment by Shallow Pharnyx Tuesday, Jun 27, 06 @ 1:31 pm
Oops. Didn’t use spell check- must be a lazy worker (I don’t work for the state).
Comment by Shallow Pharnyx Tuesday, Jun 27, 06 @ 1:34 pm
If he got the grade in the mail, he was in the system prior to the list being called on.
Sounds like a former Personnel director is tipping off the press again!!! Go Dawn!
Comment by Wheres the leadership??? Tuesday, Jun 27, 06 @ 2:15 pm
Meanwhile Judy Bore gets whacked one more time for the Sweetheart lease deal on Jefferson Street.
Oh BTW she promised another plan — this time on business development. Some are still wait’n for the biiiig education plan.
Comment by Reddbyrd Tuesday, Jun 27, 06 @ 2:16 pm
“Where’s the Leadership” he would have been in the system. Sounds to me like the spokesperson was just trying to come up with something, anything, remotely plausible to those who haven’t worked in government and don’t understand the hiring system in order to defuse the story. It isn’t a bad excuse, but it is b.s. although it seemed to be enough to get folks like Cassandra to view the story in the context of their uninformed prejudices and view it as another example of “state employee incompetence, rather than what it really appears to be which is an improper interference in Rutan-covered hiring.
I have a friend here in Springfield who was probably subject to the same type of improper intereference, although we’ll never know for sure. He is a Viet Nam vet, with a great deal of experience in his field who wanted to make a return from retirement, but who despite being a veteran and receiving A grades wasn’t even getting calls for interviews, but he found out that other less qualified non-vets were obtaining the jobs.
Comment by Just the Facts Tuesday, Jun 27, 06 @ 2:54 pm
It is intriguing that so many seem disposed to take the Administration’s explanations at face value, over and over, even while admitting that the excuses are a bit shaky, like the wife that doesn’t want to face the reality behind that lipstick mark on her husband’s collar.
They have betrayed us all. Again and again.
Comment by Bubs Tuesday, Jun 27, 06 @ 2:56 pm
Well all I know is that JBT is planning to release an economic plan while the governor is releasing attack ads, what’s he thinkin’? Finally, a plan from Judy.
Comment by Wumpus Tuesday, Jun 27, 06 @ 3:12 pm
I commend the Governor for his efforts to separate government matters from political matters and I’m not going to be negative at all. It seems like he’s getting the message. How long will it last is another issue.
Next, he needs to focus on his spokepeople and the responses that they give to the newsmedia. Somtimes I read the Gov’s offices’ response to issues especially Ottenhoff responses and I say, “did she read her own statement before she said it”.
That’s how bogus some of her responses are!
Question: Where is Deputy Chief of Staff Cheryle Jackson?
Haven’t heard from her for quite some time unless I missed it.
Comment by One Man Can Make A Difference Tuesday, Jun 27, 06 @ 3:23 pm
No, Shallow, I’m not into conspiracy theories. What I’m saying is, when evaluating an activity performed by Illinois state government, think dumb or think no sense of urgency before you think conspiracy.
Comment by Cassandra Tuesday, Jun 27, 06 @ 3:33 pm
Ask The Illinois Tollway for advice, they are professionals at covering up their hiring practices.
John Mitola, Jack Hartman, Antoin Rezko, Christopher G . Kelly, Brian J. McPartlin,
Scott Okun, Andrew Lawrence, Tracey Smith
Comment by 911 Tuesday, Jun 27, 06 @ 4:16 pm
My brother (who is a vet) went for an interview at a state agency here in town.He was the most qualified applicant for the job. The person interviewing him asked him if he would give up his veteran status so that they could hire someone else!! Isn’t that illegal as heck? My brother refused to give up his vet status and they HAD to hire him. Something fishy here!!
Comment by Mimi Tuesday, Jun 27, 06 @ 4:38 pm
Cassandra - what is it with you and state employees?
They do as they are told, period. If the grade didn’t get answered in time, it’s because it was stuck in limbo in some superior’s office or “lost” by some higher up at the request of the Governor’s Office. Believe me when I say that when that group calls, everyone had better genuflect or it’s off with their heads. Rank and file state employees don’t make the decision of not putting in or correcting grades, etc. It doesn’t come to them first and most of the time, they don’t see it at all. You should not tar all state workers with the same brush.
By the way, you should read the letters to the editor in the SJR of Springfield over the past few weeks, congratulating the employees of the State of Illinois for their contributions to the State Employees Combined Appeal, which topped all former years’ contributions. All of this while they have had not even a warm handshake in recognition of their work for over four years. These letters were from recipients of the largess of this fund, not from bureau chiefs or the organizers of the campaign. Ditto goes for their contributions to national disasters such as Katrina. One bureau that I know about raised over $500 in an hour and it was a very small bureau within Healthcare and Family Services.
If you want to know who is making money for nothing, just follow the big money trail.
Comment by Disgusted Tuesday, Jun 27, 06 @ 8:13 pm
Seems like the Dems, or at least the guvs folks, ought to hire all Repubs just like what has happened for the last 20 years. I am sure if that started the guvs folks would get plenty of help to make it all legal same as it has been for the last 20-25 years.
They just can’t figure out how to do it the “right way”.
Comment by aidanquinn Tuesday, Jun 27, 06 @ 9:05 pm
One Man,
The gov’s people put Jackson away in a closet where she couldn’t berate the media every few minutes. Plus, with a lower profile, people are less likely to think about how her husband got such a sweet state job.
Moving Jackson upward (remember the Seinfeld where Elaine kept promoting the crazy veteran to get him out of her hair?) might have improved the administration’s relations with the media for a while. Reporters instead had to deal with Ottenhoff and Rausch. At the least, they’re less abrasive than fresh stucco.
But then, have you noticed the gov trotted out Jackson when he had to deal with a particularly racially charged crisis like the Nation of Islam lady on the hate crimes panel? Yup, he let Jackson handle the initial questions of that one, as if she’d somehow speak with greater authority.
It’s pretty patronizing if you ask me. Just like Blago insisting on noting the race of the little girl (black) in the stupid joke he tells repeatedly about being mistaken for Mayor Daley.
Comment by 'The Gay Governor' Tuesday, Jun 27, 06 @ 9:10 pm
Sevens hire fives….just like what is being done at the Gaming Board with the supervisor positions. Same story, different names and different agency.
Comment by Addicted2Live Wednesday, Jun 28, 06 @ 12:09 am
Friendly suggestion…smart reporters should FOIA CMS and ask what date Mr. Keen applied for, and received, his grade. I think that you will find it bears a similar date to that of the other candidate….
hmmm…one person makes the list and one doesn’t….
Comment by in the know... Wednesday, Jun 28, 06 @ 12:20 am
How ridiculous can this be? How, how on earth could the more qualified pilot not get the job? It is absolutely a fix job. What, was the window of opportunity to apply for this job open about three hours? Where was the job posted? In the men’s room on the 16th?
This is a union job. Covered by AFSCME. There is (or always should be) sufficient time to apply for a posted union job, unless somebody has messed with the system.
It’s just hard to believe only one qualified pilot applied during the entire time the job should have been an open hire to the public. CMS is supposed to send every eligible candidate a notice in the mail that there is an open job they can apply for. These letters are always sent well in advance of the job’s application deadline. That is how it is supposed to work, and I’ve seen it work that way. This one stinks.
Comment by Papa Legba Wednesday, Jun 28, 06 @ 2:24 am
I want to know if state funds paid for the governor’s trip to DC. Since he spent most of his time at fundraisers for himself, shouldn’t his campaign fund pay in proportion to the time spent schmoozing, rather than doing state business. What a greasy, sleazy weasel he is.
Comment by Disgusted Wednesday, Jun 28, 06 @ 7:20 am
i dont understand why everyone is so upsey with the fact that this was a union position and IDOT and they were able to manipulate it. I wish someone would look at the jobs that were union and have been changed to non so they can put who they want in it or just change it to not rutan covered. Or chnge the job title but not the duties i mean i wish there was someone on the side of the little people
Comment by Aunt Ruthy Wednesday, Jun 28, 06 @ 4:54 pm
What about the Sheridan Correctional Center Strike. Gateway employees locked out by the Illinois Department of Corrections and Illinois’ Central Management Services. Gateway employees who want to cross the picket lines are refused entry into Sheridan. Check my website for updates: C.L.I.C.K. for Justice and Equality.
Comment by C.L.I.C.K. for Justice and Equality Friday, Jun 30, 06 @ 8:24 am