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 U.S. District Judge Sidney Schenkier made the ruling following a
joint request from both attorneys for the nation's third-largest
city and lawyer Michael Shakman, who sued the city in 1969 to stop
the practice of hiring workers based on political ties.
Shakman's lawsuit led to the nationally influential "Shakman
decrees," which banned patronage hiring and firing, with exemptions
for certain positions such as executive and policy posts. Shakman
told the court that the city no longer has the policy, custom or
practice of hiring based on political factors.
The ruling is a victory for Mayor Rahm Emanuel, whose administration
says it requires employees to cooperate with investigations and
educates workers on legal hiring. It also will save the city money
on court fees.
"Changing a long entrenched culture of patronage is generally not a
revolutionary process but an evolutionary one..." Schenkier said.
"This evolutionary process has taken a solid footing in the city of
Chicago."
Emanuel told the court that in the past hiring was based on "who you
know instead of what you know," which eroded public trust in
government.
The federal monitor has been in place since 2005, when at Shakman's
request the city was held in civil contempt as a result of criminal
investigations of job rigging.
Patronage hiring, or the "spoils system," had historically been the
foundation of U.S. political machines, which empowered bosses like
the late Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley. People who did work for
politicians could get government jobs for themselves or their
relatives.
The city's inspector general, Joseph Ferguson, a former federal
prosecutor, will continue the job of watching over the city's hiring
practices.
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Eight people spoke at the hearing in objection to the city's release
from the court monitor, saying it was too soon.
"Nothing's changed," said city worker Bruce Randazzo. "The only
thing that's changing is the names."
Schenkier said substantial compliance does not mean perfection, and
that vigilance must continue, but that the city had through its
reforms earned release from court oversight. He noted that both
Shakman and federal monitor Noelle Brennan were a "tough crowd to
satisfy."
(Reporting by Mary Wisniewski; Editing by Jim Loney)
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