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Taking care of one’s own

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Illinois

Yes, I know that Rod Blagojevich vowed to change “business as usual” if he was elected governor. I also know that most of that change has been in the way his office describes its behavior, not in the actual behavior itself.

But the Republican belly-aching about losing coveted state jobs just because of their party affiliation is a bit hard to take when they do stuff like this:

The Sangamon County Board Tuesday named Sharmin Doering, daughter of county Republican Chairman Irv Smith, as executive director of the county’s community resources department. […]

She was among Illinois Department of Transportation employees, many of them Republicans, who were dismissed from that agency last summer. She made about $66,000 annually there and has pending litigation against the department, claiming her dismissal was politically motivated. […]

Doering said later she didn’t know how many people were interviewed for the job. Asked about her reaction if people think her father’s position led to her hiring, Doering reiterated her experience with public service, adding that she spends a lot of her free time working to save animals as a board member of the Animal Protective League.

Among her activities, she said, is leadership of an effort, working with others, to find homes for 200 cats per year that otherwise would have to be euthanized by the county.

I doubt her work saving cats had as much to do with her appointment as being Irv Smith’s daughter.

Doering, by the way, was once a member of the State Employees Retirement System board.

I don’t really have a problem with Smith helping his own kid. I do have a problem when he criticizes the other side for doing the same sort of thing. A pox on all of their houses.

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Dec 15, 04 @ 8:17 am

Comments

Amen. The guy does all that bellyaching and then boasts about how “conservative” the GOP is in Sangamon County when before audiences. Of course, like other “conservative champions” in the state, we rarely get any insight in what Smith means. This…I guess… gives us plenty of insight.

Comment by Greg Wednesday, Dec 15, 04 @ 9:49 am
I really hate it when political hacks, or anyone else who gets a job through political connections, bitch when they lose their job for any reason, but especially when it happens as a result of a change in leadership. Ever heard of “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.” If you’re related to a politican or alligned with one and got a job becasue of it, your employment is about as safe as a drunken salior’s paycheck in a brothel.

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Dec 15, 04 @ 10:00 am
Agreed. Except, of course, we have known all along you need to know someone to get a job. I think the “belly-aching” from (mostly Sang. Co.) Repubs right now is the blantant disregard for who is being let go and what their job is at an Agency. I do not have any problem what-so-ever with a new administration making changes in policy making positions, and filling vacant jobs with people who are qualified (or maybe not!) because of their alignment with the administration. What I do take issue with is how the administration is laying people off simply because of their political affliation, or better yet, because of a ballot they take in the primary. People who are the nuts and bolts of Agencies, not policy making positions. Thompson, Edgar, and Ryan administrations did not all get along, and there were lines drawn between the camps. When one administration came in, so did their people, but they didn’t “clean house” the way Blago is doing. People were re-assigned, but had jobs because they were qualified. The state is a mess today because it is TOP heavy with out-of-state (and I would hope Rich agrees with me on this point) people in policy making positions, who may be good people and qualified (but usually are not), but have no idea what is going on in an Agency. All the people who used to run the Agencies have been let go when they could have merely been “re-assigned” to help with the transition. And, in a earth-shattering move to save money, let’s lay off all the middle managers and clerical staff who keep the Agencies running from day to day, but keep high salaried administration staff…It isn’t a dirty little secret. But I will give you this much…Irv is that old man on front porch who is always yelling at the kids to keep the ball out of his yard…his time is done. There are better ways to get his point across. Especially when his daughter-in-law is getting favors from the Repub heavy Sang. Co. Board.

Comment by Bo Wednesday, Dec 15, 04 @ 4:06 pm
Interesting, Mr Miller. The governor and the Chicago Democratic machine have continuously exemplified corruption and venality and it is they with whom onus for such must lie.
Amy Allen
Obiter Dictum Blog
www.obiterdictumblog.blogspot.com

Comment by AmyEAllen Wednesday, Dec 15, 04 @ 7:55 pm
And don’t forget, Bo, that a good number of the “high salaried administration staff” are actually paid out of other agencies to make it look like the Gov.’s office has made cuts when really they’re just taking from other agencies’ budgets…

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Dec 15, 04 @ 8:54 pm
Yes, Anonymous, you are correct…I know this all too well…from the view I have. Very nice point.

Comment by Bo Thursday, Dec 16, 04 @ 8:44 am
As a Sangamon County Democrat, I’m sick of Irv Smith and his GOP gang complaining about jobs. I thought they were the party of smaller government?

Face GOP, you are about JOBS, JOBS and more JOBS for your lakies. You never hired Democrats and you know it. You ruled with an iron fist for 26 years. You lost. Get over it and stop telling voters you are the party of smaller government. You are the party of JOBS.

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Dec 16, 04 @ 6:38 pm
You are a Sang. Co. Dem? I couldn’t tell. Good luck with your therepy. It appears you have some deeply seeded issues with the politics of the area. If you play nice, everyone gets a job (if qualified and have the proper string(s) to pull), no matter what your political affliation.

Comment by Bo Friday, Dec 17, 04 @ 8:19 am
Anyone who believes that there are “non-political” people in these “policy” positions is either living in some kind of vacuum or hasn’t been around Springfield politics very long.

I’ve heard this hallucinatory statement a hundred times: “Oh, Jim (or Jack or Jane–take your pick) will be IMPOSSIBLE to replace. He’s really not political and no one else knows that job like he does . . .” Come to find out that Joe was a data processor who got referred from his committeeman to Irv. Later, he somehow “lucked” into a new, higher paying “policy” position. Then, guess what? The administration changes and he somehow becomes “apolitical”.

No one. Not one is irreplaceable

Live by the sword; die by the sword.

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Dec 21, 04 @ 11:01 am