The Chicago Sun-Times reports on the "enterprise" know as City of Chicago government:
A federal hiring monitor Thursday filed strenuous objections to Mayor Daley's plan to create a new Office of Compliance to police city hiring and pick up where the monitor leaves off.Can you name that party that's controlled Chicago since 1931?
Noelle Brennan cited the city's "history of noncompliance,'' a series of violations and fears that only Inspector General David Hoffman is independent enough to guarantee compliance.
Brennan cited examples, including the case of a high-ranking employee who dared to report a violation to the monitor and was punished.
Individuals in the mayor's office retaliated against the employee by attempting to "exclude her from meetings . . . have her stripped of certain duties and attempting to isolate her from the rest of her working group,'' the report said. The only explanation for the treatment was that the employee "could not be trusted.''
Several other examples were cited.
"Even after the appointment of the monitor, the city continued to violate the Shakman decree by appointing individuals into 'exempt' positions that simply did not exist," the monitor wrote.
"To 'correct' this problem, a former deputy chief of staff violated the decree further by moving open Shakman-exempt slots from one department to another, an action prohibited" by court order.
And despite a requirement that individuals involved in the hiring process verify that it was free from political influence by signing sworn affidavits, an audit revealed that "hundreds of certifications were missing for completed hires and only partial certifications existed for others."
In another case, the monitor told the city that a city department had engaged in "extensive and blatant manipulation of the hiring rules to promote two pre-selected individuals into higher paid positions."
