Chicago May Alter Hiring

Mayor Richard Daley proposed Thursday to turn municipal hiring over to an independent commission after federal investigators charged two city officials with illegally lining up jobs for people with political connections.

The proposed Public Service Commission would set up its own procedures for testing, interviewing and hiring applicants, Daley said.

The proposal is subject to approval from the City Council.

“This represents progress in the city of Chicago,” the mayor said.

Daley said setting up the commission would prevent violations of a decades-old court order barring city officials from hiring employees for political reasons. The order, known as the Shakman decree, was designed to weaken Chicago’s machine politics. The city has 38,000 employees, with 1,000 exempt from the order.

“With 38,000 city positions, anyone can claim that politics played a role in filling a job or granting a promotion,” Daley said. “The only alternative is to move all hiring and promotions out of City Hall.”

The mayor would appoint the commission’s chairman, who also would be subject to City Council approval. The council would appoint the remaining commissioners.

The mayor did not provide additional details on the commission, but said he wanted to have commissioners in place soon so the group could begin work by the end of the year.

Federal prosecutors this week alleged that two Daley administration officials illegally doled out patronage jobs.

Robert Sorich and Patrick Slattery were charged Monday with fraud for their alleged role in a scheme in which interviews and scores were falsified to enable well-connected applicants to land jobs.

Alderman Ed Smith said careful selection of commission members would be vital, as would giving the panel a clear set of rules to govern hiring decisions.

The latest allegations are part of an 18-month federal investigation into a corruption-ridden program through which the city outsources hauling work. The probe has been widened to look at City Hall hiring practices.

Daley has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

In the investigation of hauling contracts, John Cannatello, 54, the former head of a trucking company that earned an average of $325,000 a year under the program, pleaded guilty Thursday to mail fraud and admitted paying off officials in the water department.