The scathing audit of the Illinois Department of Central
Management Services that made such big headlines last week could be just the
tip of the iceberg. The audit uncovered numerous problems at the agency,
including some possible criminal activity, but inside sources say that there is
much more to come.
For instance, back on March 29th the Illinois Secretary
of State's office received a routine request from the Blagojevich
administration.
An employee at the Department of Central Management
Services had been placed on administrative leave, the SoS was told. The
Secretary of State's office, which handles security at the Capitol Complex, was
asked to bar the woman from entering the Stratton Building until further
notice.
Just to make sure that there were no mistakes, photos of
the employee were supplied to the SoS and were placed at both guarded entrances
to the building.
The employee in question could not be reached for comment
and a spokesperson for CMS referred all inquiries to the Inspector General's
office, which refused comment.
At the time she was placed on leave, the employee was
working in the job-testing division of CMS's personnel office. Not long after
she was temporarily moved out, another high-level personnel office employee was
reassigned to a different job at another state agency. The move was reportedly
in the works for several weeks, if not longer, however. That person did not
respond to requests for comment. Two other people in the personnel office were
also reportedly reassigned during the same period.
Is there something else going on at CMS besides the
administrative problems uncovered by the Illinois Auditor General's report?
According to several sources, CMS personnel office files
were searched by the Office of the Executive Inspector General and at least one
computer was seized in late March. Rumors are rampant within CMS that the IG's
investigation has something to do with alleged circumvention of the state's
veterans preference rules. Veterans automatically receive extra points on state
tests, and some critics (including former Governor George Ryan) have claimed
that it is all but impossible to hire anyone but military veterans.
It should be stressed here that neither the woman on
administrative leave nor anyone else at CMS have been publicly accused of doing
anything wrong. And some at CMS say that any alleged orders to get around the
veterans preferences by possibly upcoding political hires came from high up the
governmental food chain and that lower level people are being unfairly blamed.
So far, the Inspector General has made no criminal
referrals to the attorney general. And, as the State Journal-Register's Bernie
Schoenburg pointed out in a recent column:
"...when the inspector general's office finds that a
complaint has merit, that is reported to the employees' bosses, such as the
governor and an agency director. If the recommended action is taken, nothing
ever becomes public. If the action is not agreed to, the inspector general can
take the case to the Executive Ethics Commission. Hearings there also are
confidential."
In other words, we may never know what really happened at
CMS unless the attorney general or the US Attorney's office intervenes. A cynic
might say that the IG's office is essentially set up to protect the incumbent
administration from embarrassing revelations by handling potential problems in
total secrecy.
The obvious potential for problems created by the
mandated secrecy at the Inspector General's office is compounded by this very
disturbing little paragraph in the state statute book:
"(5 ILCS 430/20-80) ...If an Executive Inspector
General determines that any alleged misconduct may give rise to criminal
penalties, the Executive Inspector General may refer the allegations regarding
that misconduct to the appropriate law enforcement authority."
This means the IG is not required by law to report
suspected illegal activities to the attorney general, the FBI or the local
state's attorney. And since an inspector general's office can keep its entire
investigation secret, it can legitimately cover up any lawbreaking.
And even if the IG's office is on the up and up (which is
probable, but we have no way of knowing for sure one way or another because of
its mandated ultra-secrecy), the office may never get to the bottom of this
particular mystery.
According to a couple of sources, CMS was tipped that the
IG was planning a raid and files were reportedly moved before investigators
arrived.
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Rich Miller also publishes Capitol Fax, a daily political
newsletter. He can be reached at www.capitolfax.com.