Chicago Pays $681K in Wages to Corruption Convicts
The City of Chicago kept 17 employees on the payroll after their convictions in public corruption cases, at a cost of $681,195 to the taxpayers.
by Brian Costin
If pleading guilty or being found guilty in public corruption cases isnt grounds for dismissal, what is?
A pair of recent Chicago Sun-Times articles revealed the City of Chicago kept 17 employees on the payroll after their convictions in public corruption cases, at a cost of $681,195 to the taxpayers.
The first Sun-Times article found $383,205 in wages was paid out to 9 employees after they were convicted of various public corruption crimes.
Seven of them were convicted in Operation Crooked Code, an investigation by federal authorities and the city inspector generals office, for taking bribes from developers and construction contractors.
Two others Patrick Slattery and John Resa were convicted in an investigation of illegal City Hall hiring.
A second Sun-Times article found the City of Chicago paid out $297,990 in wages to 8 employees after their public corruption convictions. Some of the crimes these individuals committed include rigging city hiring tests to reward patronage workers, taking bribes to overlook code violations, and taking bribes.
While it might seem like common-sense to fire someone because of corruption, apparently thats not so in the City of Chicago. It seems that workplace regulations are making it very hard to fire those who have been convicted.
Career-service employees must be served with specific charges identifying the basis for the termination before they are taken off the payroll, Hoyle says.
Being charged with a crime isnt necessarily enough, she says. Nor, even, is being convicted of a crime, under city ordinances. Only when a career-service employee gets sentenced does the city have a clear path to fire them, according to Hoyle.
With Chicagos elections coming up in February, incumbents and candidates for office need to get serious about fighting public corruption in Chicago. Chicago needs to immediately fix workplace regulation loopholes that allow those convicted of public corruption to continue to draw salary and benefits paid for by the taxpayers.