Quinn: Agencies Must Follow Hiring Rules

Gov. Pat Quinn says it was up to his transportation secretary to follow employment rules even when hiring candidates the governor's office favored.

The Chicago Democrat said Tuesday his cabinet members "have a duty to make sure that they comply with the rules that I've set down'' and are accountable for that.
 
Quinn was responding to questions in Chicago about an investigative report released Friday by the Office of the Executive Inspector General.

It says the Illinois Department of Transportation circumvented rules to keep political clout out of job decisions and hired 250 people improperly in the past decade.
 
Former Transportation Secretary Ann Schneider responded to the report saying the "vast majority'' of hires were candidates recommended by Quinn's office.

She felt pressured to employ them. Schneider resigned in June.

UPDATE:   One of Gov. Pat Quinn's deputy chiefs of staff - whose responsibilities included the troubled Illinois Department of Transportation - is leaving the job.
 
Sean O'Shea of Chicago had duties that included oversight of IDOT for the governor. Quinn spokesman Grant Klinzman confirmed that O'Shea's last day in the $130,000 job is Friday.
 
Klinzman says the 37-year-old O'Shea is taking a private-sector job and his departure has nothing to do with an investigative report released Friday about improper hiring at IDOT.