Michael Shakman, who spearheaded a landmark 1972 decree against political hiring, sued the Democratic governor this week in federal court. He is asking for a monitor to investigate employment at the Transportation Department after a report last year by the Better Government Association that for nearly 10 years, IDOT evaded both his Shakman Decree and the high court ruling known as Rutan in hiring people based on politics and later transferring them into positions protected from easy dismissal.
After Shakman's motion was filed in federal court on Tuesday, IDOT spokesman Guy Tridgell said the 61 jobs currently labeled as staff assistants were submitted for evaluation to the state's personnel agency, the Department of Central Management Services, to determine whether they should be covered by Rutan. The agency responded that 50 of them should be, and they will be treated as such in the future. There's no indication anyone hired will lose his job.
After-the-fact appraisal is not how Rutan is supposed to work, said Carl Draper, a Springfield lawyer who has been involved in several high-profile government hiring cases, including one in which 16 IDOT employees, fired by Blagojevich for political reasons, won back their jobs.
Guy who works for pronounces it El-a-noise. He's from Wood River, Ellanoise. People from Wood River call the river the town is named after Wood River Creek.
I'm watching the news this morning and this was an actual story:
"Some good news. The Memorial Day weekend has started without any victims of gun violence in the city (Chicago). Police say no one has been shot since at least 10:00pm last night. They say there have been reports of guns being fired, but nobody has been hit...that is unusual."
Mind you, it is 9:00am. So, 11 hours without someone being shot is a "good" news story and "unusual". Nice.
My God. Our local Rock Island County board politicians are an absolute joke. Sadly, I think this kind of thing happens all over the state. I can't find the original article, but this summarizes everything:
* Chairman Phil Banaszek intended to be magnanimous when he announced he no longer would charge taxpayers mileage for his commute to work. Turns out he never should have received that compensation.
* Democrat board member Don Johnston fumed about having to file Freedom of Information Act requests to get essential, public county data that should be readily available to every taxpayer.
* Chapman complained Johnston was bullying her with those requests, prompting a county investigation.
* The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity sanctioned the county for improper management of the Local Workforce Investment Area, a three-county jobs program managed by Rock Island County. Once again, improper mileage and other compensation was the issue.
* Henry County Board chairman Tim Wells, a member of that Local Workforce Investment Area board for 12 years, complained bitterly when Banaszek began requiring him to file FOIs for access to public information.
* The Dispatch/Argus reported that the county’s former human resources manager filed a lawsuit claiming improper dismissal. The suit alleges that Banaszek and Chapman insisted the manager seek retirement compensation for board members that state officials ruled was unearned.
* The board has turned to referendum again and again to seek tax hikes to manage problems other elected boards have resolved in our community.
* The county’s Hope Creek Nursing Home is failing financially, and the county under Banaszek’s leadership is asking voters for yet another tax increase that most certainly will fail, too.
* In response to growing pressure to sell the home, Banaszek appointed two board members to investigate a sale, but neglected to inform them prior to the meeting. The surprise appointments are another indication of amateur leadership.
* The county courthouse and office building issue remains unresolved with little board response to recommendations from a special task force, which hasn’t convened in months.
The courthouse and building issue they are talking about is the Rock Island County Courthouse. It desperately needs a renovation and maintenance, but they can't seem to find the money to do it (but they can find lots of money for mileage reimbursement, I guess).
The suit was filed by Meg Hoskins, the county's human resources director for 12 years, who was fired Aug. 29, 2013, for "performance issues." She contends in the suit filed against the county and county board chairman Phil Banaszek that Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund officials told her a county plan to use wages paid to members of the Forest Preserve Committee for pension purposes was illegal.
Ms. Hoskins subsequently refused to follow instructions from Mr. Banaszek on the pension plan, her suit states, because she believed it violated the law. Court documents state the county board's executive assistant, Shelly Chapman, "told Ms. Hoskins to follow her instructions anyway and to hope that IMRF would not notice the discrepancy."
The suit claims Ms. Chapman was directed to do so by Mr. Banaszek.
Ms. Hoskins did not comply with the request and, according to the suit, later was fired in retaliation.....
Here is a perfect example of the difference between Illinois and Iowa. The Illinois Quad Cities just built a brand new bus barn at a cost of $37 million. Davenport used to rent space from the old facility in Rock Island for their buses. Rather than rent space in this new shiny building, Davenport decided to build their own building, too. Davenport is building one for $2.5 million, $400K of which was a federal grant. So basically Davenport figured out how to get a new bus barn for $35 million less than what the Illinois side paid.
Several cities on the Illinois side consolidated their bus services several years back. They have a way better system and get a lot more riders than the Iowa side. I'm a big believer in public transportation, I just wonder if they went a teeny bit overboard with this new building.
A few years ago, Illinois' Medicaid program for the poor noticed some odd trends in its billings for group psychotherapy sessions.
Nursing home residents were being taken several times a week to off-site locations, and Medicaid was picking up the tab for both the services and the transportation.
And then there was this: The sessions were often being performed by obstetrician-gynecologists, oncologists and urologists — "people who didn't have any training really in psychiatry," Illinois Medicaid director Theresa Eagleson recalled.
Yay Illinois
Last edited by lukethedrifter on July 15 14, 9:49 am, edited 1 time in total.
pioneer98 wrote:Here is a perfect example of the difference between Illinois and Iowa. The Illinois Quad Cities just built a brand new bus barn at a cost of $37 million. Davenport used to rent space from the old facility in Rock Island for their buses. Rather than rent space in this new shiny building, Davenport decided to build their own building, too. Davenport is building one for $2.5 million, $400K of which was a federal grant. So basically Davenport figured out how to get a new bus barn for $35 million less than what the Illinois side paid.
Several cities on the Illinois side consolidated their bus services several years back. They have a way better system and get a lot more riders than the Iowa side. I'm a big believer in public transportation, I just wonder if they went a teeny bit overboard with this new building.
