Binge and Purge

“Mayor Daley on Tuesday scoffed at a federal hiring monitor’s demand for guarantees to prevent the threatened layoff of well over 1,000 city employees from turning into a political purge,” the Sun-Times reports.

The mayor’s right, I don’t know where Noelle Brennan got the idea that city jobs have anything to do with politics.

Daley’s Law

“Mayor Richard Daley’s administration still isn’t following basic rules designed to keep city hiring free of politics, a court-appointed official said,” the Tribune reported last week.

“A year after submitting a blueprint to clean up its scandal-plagued hiring system, the city has ‘failed to comply’ with parts of its own plan, city hiring monitor Noelle Brennan said in a report filed in federal court.”

Come hear how the mayor does it when he speaks at the Compliance and Ethics Institute.

The Tree Trimmer

When federal monitor Noelle Brennan announced recently that she had finished divvying up the $12 million set aside for victims of City Hall’s hiring fraud, one unknown person stood atop the list as the lone winner of $100,000. His identity, however, was not revealed.

Now the mystery has been solved: The biggest victim of the Daley Administration’s hiring shenanigans is Richard Gramarossa, described today by the Tribune as “a 27-year employee [who] was passed over 13 times for promotions in favor of less experienced, politically connected co-workers. When he complained, he was punished with bad assignments, such as picking bugs out of infested trees in the bitter cold.”

The Trib has the full list of names and awards here.

Blog Fog

I don’t want to give anyone any ideas, but the former assistant commissioner of the city’s aviation department has filed a defamation lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court based on comments posted on the Chicago Reader’s Clout City blog.

And the target of the suit isn’t just the Reader – or primarly the Reader, really – but local political thorn Frank Coconate, a critic of the Daley administration who recently won $75,000 from Shakman monitor Noelle Brennan.

James Sachay alleges in court papers that Coconate posted blog comments under Sachay’s name, including one that said: “I am voting for Frank Coconate. I am sorry I challenged his petitions under false pretenses. I am sorry I stole money from Roman Pucinski. I am sorry I got illegal contracts for my son and acted criminally at O’Hare.”

At the time, Coconate was running against Ralph Capparelli for 41st Ward committeeman; Sachay worked for Capparelli. (Both lost to caterer Mary O’Connor, president of the Edison Park Chamber of Commerce)

In his lawsuit, Sachay denies the post was his; so does Coconate, who told me this morning that he uses his real name on “99.9 percent of my posts.”

Coconate also has his own site where he is currently portraying Sachay and Capparelli as crybabies.

The suit asks for $200,000 from both Coconate and the Reader.

Must-See Political TV

She’s the bane of old-school alderman who say she “doesn’t have a clue” and the mayor calls her most recent actions “silly.” Is she an idiot, or is she fearlessly taking on the Machine? Find out tonight when federal hiring monitor Noelle Brennan is interviewed by Carol Marin on Chicago Tonight, 7 p.m., WTTW.

And after Brennan, a look at the top ten most endangered places in the state according to Landmark Illinois.

Chicago Tonight: They’re in my head!

Stone’s Throw

Like many people in the Chicago political universe, I was originally taken aback when defeated aldermanic candidate Jay Stone came out one of the big winners when a federal monitor divvied up a $12 million settlement fund as payback for Mayor Richard M. Daley’s political chicanery. Stone was awarded $75,000 for his pain and suffering upon evidence that City Hall dispatched workers on taxpayer time to defeat him, which just happens to be illegal.

But reading commentary like this has made me see the error of my ways. It’s not the federal monitor’s job to assess the chances of a challenger to the mayor’s patronage system in deciding if a financial settlement is in order. I was guilty of reacting to the Stone settlement because Stone had little chance to win even if City Hall wasn’t arrayed against him. But so what? At what point do you decide he had a chance, and then would qualify for money? That’s not really the point.

I suggest we re-direct our anger at the mayor. It’s his actions we’re paying for.

Clout Spout

Wouldn’t you know it, one of the big winners amidst $12 million in payouts to victims of City Hall’s rigged hiring system turns out to be an alderman’s son.

Not that Jay Stone isn’t necessarily deserving of his whopping $75,000 check to make up for a losing aldermanic challenge to former 32nd Ward Ald. Ted Matlak (D-Machine), but geez, what about the folks like Cynthia Moody, who was awarded $1,500 for being rebuffed – for political reasons – seven years’ straight in her attempt to get a job as a “hand laborer” in Streets and San?