Governor says jobs list kept track of applicants

[Waldo]

By John Chase and Ray Long
Tribune staff reporters
Published May 18, 2006


Under investigation for alleged hiring improprieties, Gov. Rod Blagojevich's administration acknowledged Wednesday it has kept a list of thousands of names of state job applicants and their politically connected sponsors since his election to office nearly four years ago.

But Blagojevich aides said compiling the list does not violate rules that prohibit political considerations in most state hiring or promotions. A spokeswoman for the governor said the office kept track of applicants' names and job status to be able to quickly respond to inquiries from those who recommended them.

The administration revealed the job tracking effort after the disclosure of a list of state job seekers that notes what appears to be the people who recommended them and the agency for which they were being considered for work. The Chicago Sun-Times and the Associated Press, which first obtained the lists, reported Wednesday that most of the nearly 300 people on the list got jobs.

The list indicates sponsors for jobs that include the governor's estranged father-in-law, Ald. Richard Mell (33rd), other prominent Democratic allies of the governor and key Blagojevich fundraisers, a Tribune review of the list shows. Some applicants sought jobs that are not covered under the rules prohibiting political hiring.

Both the governor's office and his re-election campaign said they had no knowledge of the list described by the news organizations.

Last week, Blagojevich's office announced the firing of two former top hiring officials in the state's personnel management agency after an inspector general's investigation found instances of favoritism involving the testing of "special" applicants forwarded by the governor's office and others. Some agency officials contended they felt pressured to treat the "special" applications differently.

On Thursday, the two fired officials--Dawn DeFraties and Michael Casey--are scheduled to fight attempts by the Blagojevich administration to dismiss their appeals before the state's Civil Service Commission. The lawyer for the two contends they are being used as scapegoats by the administration for trying to bring more fairness to a system rife with political favoritism.

DeFraties and Casey have been contacted by the FBI regarding hiring practices and questions surrounding personnel procedures, according to sources familiar with the investigations of the administration.

Blagojevich has not been accused of any wrongdoing and has said his administration has worked to root out any hiring irregularities and acted within the law.

Abby Ottenhoff, a governor's spokeswoman, said the administration has been keeping track of more than 15,000 applicants who were recommended for state jobs since Blagojevich's November 2002 election.

Ottenhoff said fewer than 10 percent of the applicants received jobs. Applications were forwarded to the Department of Central Management Services, the state's personnel and office management agency, where they were tested and graded if they were for civil service positions, she said.

She said the list was kept in the personnel division of the governor's office, overseen by Joe Cini.

For more than a year, federal prosecutors have been conducting an investigation into allegations of criminal wrongdoing in the governor's personnel office, and at the Department of Children and Family Services. Last fall, the federal probe was expanded to the Department of Transportation and the Department of Corrections and subpoenas were issued.

In a letter federal prosecutors wrote in March of 2005 to encourage the cooperation of a potential witness, they noted that "the government is conducting a grand jury investigation regarding allegations of criminal wrongdoing" involving Cini and others "in relation to public corruption." Cini has declined to comment through the governor's office.

The campaign of state Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka, the Republican candidate for governor, compared the jobs list cited in the published reports to the lengthy list of political favors compiled for former Gov. George Ryan, who was recently convicted on federal corruption charges. Blagojevich has sought to link Topinka to Ryan, noting her name appeared repeatedly on the favors list.

Doug Scofield, an adviser to Blagojevich's re-election campaign, said the application list was far different from the favors list compiled for Ryan because the Republican governor expected favors for job placements and low-digit license plates to be returned.

Under Blagojevich's system of dealing with job applicants, "You put them in a list and the most qualified people go through a process and they get the job," Scofield said.

[Ed Ely]

SOS happening here in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

The AG has been on Gov. Fletcher's arse for many
fortnights now. Within the last couple days, the State
Supreme ruled that the Gov has acted within the bounds
of his powers.

The AG, a Demo, has been setting up himself for a run
against the Gov in '07 by trashing him.

The Gov is still charged with three misdemeaners
but I think that the AGs credibility has just about
petered out though. POLITICS.......UGH!!

Ed