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Leahy still (publicly) muzzled

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Illinois

I’ve known Mary Lee Leahy for a long time, and I have a lot of respect for her, but she really should have known better than to get back into state government, particularly with this crowd.

Leahy was hired in 2003 by Blagojevich to review state hiring practices and identify unnecessary jobs. In April, she was deposed as part of the lawsuit by the former IDOT employees. It was during that deposition that IDOT lawyers told her not to answer questions. Attorneys for the fired employees then went to court seeking to force her to answer.

The latest court papers were filed the same day that Leahy - who won the landmark Rutan ruling to keep politics out of most state hiring decisions - declared the decision is “alive and well” 26 years after it was handed down. She spoke Tuesday at a public policy luncheon sponsored by the Institute for Government and Public Affairs and the University of Illinois at Springfield.

However, Leahy told the audience she would not discuss allegations that the Blagojevich administration has circumvented hiring rules to put politically connected people into state jobs.

“Many of you read that I had a deposition taken in a case that’s now pending, challenging layoffs by the current administration,” Leahy said during her speech. “… There’s a motion now pending in the district court to resolve exactly what questions I can answer or not answer. That’s why I really do not feel that I can comment on anything going on right here in Springfield right now.”

She was used as a prop by the very people who did just about everything they could to get around the rules emanating from the very Supreme Court case she won.

Read the whole article if you’re not clear on the context.

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Sep 20, 06 @ 9:23 am

Comments

Rich - she doesn’t sound muzzled to me. It sounds like she will be able to answer all qouestions relevant to the lawsuit. Good decision by Lisa Madigan’s office.

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Wednesday, Sep 20, 06 @ 9:29 am
In her speech, Leahy also pointed out that there are about 3500 Rutan-exempt positions in Illinois . In a state work force of about 57,000, these numbers, if correct, are quite moderate. Nationally, I believe, Illinois is on the low end percentagewise of allowed political hires in state government.

She also pointed out, indirectly, an area for reform when she discussed the practice of hiring staff into Rutan-exempt positions and then shifting them into (protected) civil service positions, commenting that if you are hired for political reasons, you should be subject to discharge for political reasons.

This might be hard to fix, and we really don’t know how many patronage employees Blago has
put into the bureaucracy on a permanent basis.
It’s not impossible to fix, though, and setting up a bureaucratic firewall between Rutan-exempt and civil service positions and significantly increasing penalties for personnel and other hiring officers who violate Rutan or the intent of Rutan would be a start.

Comment by Cassandra Wednesday, Sep 20, 06 @ 10:03 am
How many people know enough about Blagojevich to blow his re-election chances by spilling the beans? And why do they remain silent?

How can we expect our crappy government to reform itself, when the reformers don’t have enough conviction to speak out when they see wrong doing? Leahy and Blagojevich touted all these whistleblowing systems to root out corruption. But it seems the last people to blow those whistles are the system’s implementors.

Have we gotten to the point where when someone sees a potential governmental criminal act, they somehow convince themselves they didn’t really see what they saw? Or that they really don’t know what they know?

We cannot have reform if there is a belief within civil servants that they would be attacked viciously and publically gutted if they are mistaken.

That is why situations within the Blagojevich administration regarding Mell’s statements, Leahy’s situation, and those HR folks in CMS are so wrong. It seems any allegations against Blagojevich results in expensive attacks destroying good people and their families.

If Blagojevich was serious about reform, he would have not thrown so many people under his bus. Doing this has made everyone too nervous to do their jobs. What we are seeing now is people talking because they are legally forced to. This atmosphere does not foster reform.

Bottom line: Blagojevich ran as a reformer, promised reform, got a mandate to reform, then abused us in return. You don’t reelect creeps like that.

Comment by VanillaMan Wednesday, Sep 20, 06 @ 10:13 am
Mary Lee is a very smart woman. How she allowed herself to be manipulated in this way is astonishing. Spill the beans Mary Lee! Your good reputation is at stake. Don’t let yourself get tainted with the poisoned brush of this corrupt administration. You know better and are above this fray! Hurry Fitzgerald, hurry!

Comment by Criminal Enterprise Called Illinois Wednesday, Sep 20, 06 @ 11:56 am
Employees from the Illinois Tollway and the Illinois Department of Transportation have been speaking out anonymously through the multiple blogs on the internet for the last fours years.
If their identities were know by Brian McPartlin or Tim Martin their jobs would be history!
Mr. Fitzgerald, where are you? The time now!

Comment by Guy Fawkes Wednesday, Sep 20, 06 @ 12:02 pm
Someone from the GOP please answer this question. No matter who said they would not do things the old way, if JBT wins, do you really think it will go back to your “good old days” (26 years) of the Sanagamon County GOP Chair passing out the jobs and having scores of state workers to work your elections? It seems to me if you win, the whole world has changed and it will be one you won’t like. Every hire, fire, promotion and contract will be looked at under a microscope, one that the state and Sangamon County GOP are not used to and won’t like. Just wait till the GOP County Chairs find out that the old way (which one of Ryan’s people stated they did in the TRib)can’t be done anymore. I’m not saying the Dems. may have not stopped the old way of doing things, but the GOP may find out what they think is great to use on Rod, may come back to bite them. There may be a lot of shock at what they have created. They are the ones who have made jobs the focus of the media, they may not like the focus if turns on them.

Comment by Anon Wednesday, Sep 20, 06 @ 1:36 pm
Casssandra - The state’s Rutan exempt workforce is about 5% of employees under the governor - incredibly excessive. For instances - as I have read on other blogs / letters to the editors, pre 911 there were a million civilians working for the feds - and 3,000 political appointments. In other words, 0.3%, or 3 per 1,000 - not 1 per 20 like here. If Illinois followed the federal example, most prison wardens would be civil servants, not political appointees. Don’t you think that would be better?

Comment by Smitty Irving Wednesday, Sep 20, 06 @ 7:11 pm
Ms. Leahy is a classic example of how many people always want to be a part of the “in” crowd. They are attracted to movers and shakers and want to bask in the supposed glory that surrounds them. But when things look too good to be true, watch out.

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Sep 20, 06 @ 7:24 pm
Smitty Irving is right. The federal workforce is far less politicized than the state’s. I would bet most county’s workforces are also far less politicized than the state’s, on a percentage basis.

Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Wednesday, Sep 20, 06 @ 9:02 pm
The federal system is far from perfect. It is much more oriented towards “internal” patronage- the hiring officers are the king makers, and are accountable to no-one.

Comment by Roy Slade Wednesday, Sep 20, 06 @ 11:29 pm
Anon 1:36 - At some point someone who is elected Governor and any other high office in this state absolutely must realize that it can no longer be “business as usual”. The current governor certainly didn’t get it. He was licking his chops from election night until inauguration day lining up his ducks to appoint to prime positions and loving every minute of it. That’s the way it always had been and now it was his turn. And in a way I don’t fault a hungry democrat for having that attitude after 26 years of republican domination. But with the indictments looming over GRyan’s head, why in the world would Blogo’s people not have tried to rein him in at least a little and have him be more subtle in trying to get repubs out and dems into some high paying key positions. I just don’t get it. If Blogo had done things nice and easy, he could have easily had 4 more years at the very least. BUT I think the fault may lie not only with Blogo and his kiddie cabinet but with all the high ranking dems who were just as hungry as Blogo, put pressure on him to hire, plus you know he was getting pressure from county chairmen, precints, wards, etc. for jobs, jobs, jobs. I personally think because of his knee jerk reaction to having his new found power and how badly he has abused it, he has done himself in. People can say what they want about polls, ads, money, and complacent voters. But I think he has so much going against him that there is no amount of money that will get this guy re-elected. Anyone who blogs on here with all kinds of rah rah speeches about how their boy Elvis is going to trounce JBT is delusional. It will be a very close race and I truly believe the voters are going to vote the scoundrel out of office. Unfortunately for Blogo, that won’t be the end of his problems. Fitzgerald will come knocking real soon. I don’t believe Blogo has been sleeping very well for a long, long time. He puts up a good front but he’s not fooling most of us.

Comment by Little Egypt Wednesday, Sep 20, 06 @ 11:52 pm
Smitty Irving? Or Irv Smith?

Comment by Criminal Enterprise Called Illinois Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 2:36 pm