Administration seeks to reclassify 36 jobs as subject to patronage

By DOUG FINKE
STATE CAPITOL BUREAU

The Blagojevich administration next week will try to reclassify three dozen upper-level state jobs to make them exempt from protections against patronage.

The jobs include at least three new patronage positions being created in the Department of Human Services, although DHS officials contend they are only giving new names to old jobs.

All of the jobs are spread among nearly a dozen state agencies under Gov. Rod Blagojevich. The agencies are asking the state Civil Service Commission to reclassify the jobs to make them "Rutan-exempt."

Cynthia Rutan was a state employee who successfully sued to restrict the use of political considerations in hiring, firing, promotions and raises. However, the courts allowed political patronage to play a role when policymaking jobs are filled. Those jobs are called Rutan-exempt.

The agencies want to add to the number of Rutan-exempt jobs already on the state's books.

"The reason these jobs are being reclassified is to ensure the right people are in the right jobs," Blagojevich spokeswoman Cheryle Jackson said Thursday.

Ten of the reclassification requests are coming from DHS, while another 10 were made by the Department of Employment Security. At DHS, the jobs being changed have been term appointments, which are guaranteed for four years after completion of a probation period.

"We are saying these positions have policymaking authority," DHS spokesman Tom Green said. "We don't believe they should be locked into four-year terms. With Rutan-exempt, it gives a person a chance to evaluate people."

Blagojevich has targeted a number of people who got four-year term appointments while George Ryan was still governor. Blagojevich said Ryan and his staff manipulated personnel rules to ensure jobs for Ryan allies long after the Republican left office.

"Certainly, some of those four-year appointments were abused and used to 'burrow' people," Jackson said. "Some of these people were not the best qualified."

Some of the DHS positions that are being reclassified are currently occupied. Green said that if the jobs are reclassified, the department would have the authority to fire whoever is holding the jobs.

"That won't necessarily be the case," Green said.

Civil Service records show that along with reclassifying jobs, DHS is creating three new positions - chief operations officer, chief financial officer and administrator of human capital development services. Green said all three represent new titles for old jobs.

"They are new in name, but they don't add to the numbers in the department," Green said.

Civil Service records show Employment Security requesting that 10 jobs be reclassified. That department's spokesman, Bern Colleran, said the agency is seeking to reclassify only six jobs. One of them is a new job in the community relations department.

Jackson could not say if agencies will be seeking to reclassify additional jobs.

"I don't know the total number," she said. "I'm sure we are reclassifying jobs that are necessary."

Doug Finke can be reached at 788-1527 or doug.finke@sj-r.com.