In the News

Daily Herald, February 14, 2007

At least 13 state employees were fired or are in the process of being dismissed for misconduct last year, Illinois’ executive inspector general reported Tuesday.

And the office set up to be a watchdog against corruption reports forwarding six investigations to the various U.S. attorney’s offices in Illinois for potential criminal charges.

But taxpayers who want to find out exactly why those workers were fired or what the investigations entailed are out of luck. The state ethics reform law that Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich touts doesn’t allow for such transparency.

Good government groups and reform-minded state lawmakers say the state needs to open up its ethics investigation process.

“This is what’s so frustrating. We’re not asking for names, but we at least want to know what the problems are. It’s like being in a cloud here,” said Democratic state Sen. Susan Garrett of Lake Forest, who is sponsoring legislation to pry out more details.

The lack of disclosure comes as the Blagojevich administration is battling numerous federal corruption probes and refuses to release subpoenas.

During the state’s 2006 budget year, the inspector general’s office received 1,278 complaints and launched 424 investigations. Of those, 64 were substantiated. But confidentiality laws prevent the office from providing any specific information about cases.

The lengthy report is replete with breakdowns showing which agency complaints came from, but the specific outcomes remain hush-hush. Gilbert Jimenez, a deputy inspector general and spokesman, said the idea is to let the public and especially the state work force know that inspectors are looking into complaints and taking action when necessary.

Two of the fired workers are Dawn DeFraties and Michael Casey. They were dismissed for allegedly rigging state hiring procedures to help applicants with political connections.

The two are suing to get their jobs back, claiming they’re being made scapegoats by Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s top aides who were behind political hiring.