A decree the state entered into in 1972 to combat patronage hiring is being targeted by the Pritzker administration and Republicans say it should be expanded, not vacated.
A filing the Illinois Attorney General made on behalf of Gov. J.B. Pritzker last month seeks to vacate a decree from 1972 about questionable hiring practices in Illinois State Government.
State Rep. Deanne Mazzochi, R-Elmhurst, said the filing is troubling.
“The spirit of the Shakman Decree is that our public jobs should not be used to coerce support for a political machine and Pritzker’s administration has been sidestepping the decrees since he took office,” Mazzochi said. “So of course he wants them gone, but that’s a major step in the wrong direction for the people of Illinois.”
Mazzochi noted even the federally appointed monitor reported the governor hasn’t been cooperating with oversight.
The governor’s office didn’t respond to messages seeking comment. The Illinois Attorney General’s office said it has no comment as the litigation is pending.
One of the arguments in the filing is the original plaintiffs don't have standing.
"Now, almost five decades since the decree was entered, Plaintiffs do not and cannot plausibly assert that the State is perpetuating any such scheme," the filing said. "There remains no case-and- controversy and no federal interest in this case to justify the extraordinary intrusion of a federal court into sovereign State affairs."
State Rep. Tim Butler, R-Springfield, said the Shakman Decree is still needed.
“People just want to have a job and work hard for the state of Illinois without having to have any political repercussions for it,” Butler said. “I think it’s the wrong step for the governor to try to overturn the Shakman Decree.”
State Rep. Grant Wehrli, R-Naperville, said there needs to be more oversight, not less.
“It would be laughable if it weren’t so serious,” Wehrli said. “Here we find ourselves in Illinois corruption and pay-to-play politics are in the news almost on a weekly basis, if not daily, and this is clearly a step in the wrong direction.”
Wehrli was also critical of the patronage scandal that involved the public and private sectors, as was revealed in a deferred prosecution agreement utility ComEd entered with the federal government. The utility said it hired people for little to no work to curry favor with House Speaker Michael Madigan in exchange for legislation that helped the utility.
Madigan has denied any wrongdoing. He has not been charged with a crime.