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County adds hundreds despite 'hiring freeze': Almost 1,300 employees put on payroll after Stroger fell illChicago Sun-TimesAugust 27, 2006By Steve PattersonAlmost 1,300 people were added to the Cook County payroll in the months after Cook County Board President John Stroger suffered a stroke that left him incapacitated and unable to run county government. Stroger's campaign manager and his chief of staff's daughter were among those added to the payroll -- even amid a hiring freeze -- while more than a dozen others who were hired have ties to powerful political machines, records show. But the idea of a "hiring freeze" is a bit misleading, county officials admit, as positions continue to be regularly filled, provided officials show they have a "critical" need. Hiring peaked with 829 employees added to the payroll in May and June, compared with 344 in the same months last year, according to records obtained by an Illinois Freedom of Information Act request. Since the county's fiscal year began in December, records show, leaders of the cash-strapped government found $41 million available to fund 1,648 positions. In the same period last year, the county hired 1,125 people. 'NOT A SIGNIFICANT INCREASE' County officials say last year saw a unique slowdown in county hiring and that this year's hiring patterns compare better with earlier years. "We do not see this as an unusual spike in hiring," said county spokeswoman Chinta Strausberg. "It is not a significant increase in hiring." But critics say the county shouldn't be hiring in the same patterns as earlier years, because county finances are worse than ever before. That's why they're surprised to see hiring in such numbers, pointing to chaos in the wake of Stroger's absence as a reason for it. "No one was watching --they snuck people in when no one was looking," Commissioner Mike Quigley said. "While [Stroger] was incapacitated, they knew they could get away with it. They should be ashamed of themselves." County human resources director Mark Kilgallon said the county has continued to hire only to fill critical needs. Though the three-year-old hiring freeze can be lifted for public safety and health, records show about half of all those hired for full- and part-time jobs since December were outside those areas. Kilgallon said in those cases, elected officials had to show a critical need. But "critical need," others say, is a relative term. "They're thumbing their nose at Cook County taxpayers by packing the payroll with all their friends and relatives," said Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica, a Republican vying with Ald. Todd Stroger to be the next president. "The level of hubris they're exhibiting is absolutely amazing." While John Stroger was ill, his chief of staff and longtime friend, James Whigham, ran day-to-day county operations. RELATIVES ON PAYROLL The County Board, meanwhile, authorized Kilgallon and budget director Donna Dunnings -- Stroger's niece -- to review new hires. But Peraica said Whigham and Stroger's patronage chief, Gerald Nichols, are to blame for many of the hires, though Whigham denied that he played any role in hiring his daughter. Summer Whigham is one of 39 new counselors at the troubled juvenile detention center, long described as a dumping ground for patronage workers. "I deliberately stayed away from it because of the crap you're putting out," James Whigham said. "She wanted to be there, she said those kids need her. She's educated, she's qualified, and I'm pissed anyone would say I had anything to do with it." Summer Whigham's hiring means that since 2001, her parents, James and Spring, and brother, James, have all been on the county payroll. Also hired after Stroger had a stroke in March was his campaign manager, Bruce Washington, at $133,000 a year, although Whigham said his hiring as director of capital planning was in the works long before Stroger fell ill. Former Chicago Inspector General Alexander Vroustouris was hired in June as an $86,413-a-year state's attorney. Other new hires since the fiscal year began include Maria Moreno-Szafarczyk, sister of Commissioner Joseph Mario Moreno, as an $85,000-a-year assistant superintendent at the juvenile center, and Ebonie Taylor-Brookins, wife of Ald. Howard Brookins (21st), as a $33,000-a-year aide to Cook County Board of Review Commissioner Larry Rogers Jr. Strausberg said more than half of those hired were added to the payroll by elected officials other than Stroger -- tops among them Sheriff Michael Sheahan, who was ordered to add jail guards, and Clerk of the Circuit Court Dorothy Brown, who said she was severely understaffed. Records provided by the county show that as of January, there were 26,732 employees, about 1 percent less than were employed last year. Kilgallon said over the last several years, Stroger cut 2,000 jobs from the budget and new employees mean lower salaries for most. Since December, 1,260 people have left the payroll, and though the county has filled those spots and then some, there is an annual salary difference of $10 million saved. PADDING THE BUREAUCRACY? Still, critics have long called for more drastic reductions in what they say is bureaucracy padding that payroll and say recent hires are doing nothing to change their minds. "It looks like a hiring feeding frenzy took place here," Commissioner Forrest Claypool said. Interim County Board President Bobbie Steele, who took office after Stroger's resignation, promised to "ensure more stringent hiring through a more thorough evaluation system for hiring." Steele claims she's pushing a tougher hiring freeze on the county than that enacted by Stroger to help control costs in a $3 billion government facing an $80 million deficit now and a $300 million deficit next year. Kilgallon said because of exemptions for public safety and health and "critical needs," a county hiring freeze might not produce the kind of results many expect. "I know when we start a hiring freeze, we're not going to save a significant amount of money because of the functions we have to perform here," Kilgallon said.
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