Sangamon Sun

Embattled Illinois Auditor General Frank Mautino, who is currently facing state and federal investigations over campaign spending, has been implicated in a federal report on patronage hiring in Cook County, a citizens oversight group said recently.

“Mautino’s shaded past and current actions prove he will always operate in his best interest, not the best interest of the state,” the Edgar County Watchdogs (ECW) posted on their Illinois Leaks website. “Only in Illinois can we have an Auditor General that has pled the fifth as it relates to his campaign spending, admitted to violating the Freedom of Information Act by withholding public records, and now, being named in a Federal Report to the courts as an active participate to patronage hiring in this state.”

Mautino is identified 17 times in the "Fifth Report of the Special Master," which covers an investigation stemming from Shakman v. Democratic Org. of Cook Cnty. Initially brought in 1969,  the case ended when the two parties agreed to a 1972 decree prohibiting politically motivated personnel decisions. That decree remains in place.

Public hiring is also subject to the Rutan rules, stemming from 1990’s Rutan v. the Republican Party of Illinois, which prohibit consideration of political support in public hiring except for positions related to policy, spokesperson duties or confidentiality duties.

In 2014, a U.S. district court appointed a special master to investigate possible violations of the decree within the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), following an earlier Office of the Executive Inspector General (OIEG) report that found discrepancies in the department's hiring practices, particularly for staff assistant positions, under Gov. Patrick Quinn's administration. The OIEG reported that it could not conclude that the governor's office was party to the misuse of those positions or circumvention of the Rutan process, leading to concerns of impartiality and the district court’s independent investigation.

Mautino is listed in relation to several hires, two of whom the ECW highlight as examples of then-state Rep. Mautino working with Quinn.

A woman referred to in the report as "Staff Asst. 13" joined IDOT with an employment background consisting of an administrative assistant position at a bank, which lasted for four months, and a server position at a restaurant. She held three positions at IDOT and was initially hired for a Rutan-covered temporary position following emails between the governor’s office and Mautino. Six months later, she was given a Rutan-exempt staff assistant position. That role saw Staff Asst. 13 completing financial reports, assembling personnel documents and responding to constituent services requests, among other roles. Later, Staff Asst. 13 was the only candidate interviewed for a Rutan-covered position, which she was given.

Mautino is also implicated in the report for sponsoring a man referred to as "Staff Asst. 46," who was hired for a Rutan-exempt staff assistant position despite his eventual manager never seeing his resume. Following communication with Mautino, the governor’s office pushed for quick approval of the electronic personnel action request (ePAR) for Staff Asst. 46, and he was hired without review by an administrative manager he eventually worked under. According to the report, the administrative manager did not even know where to place him.

Staff Asst. 46 had previously worked for a trucking company as an operations manger, line leader, route driver and warehouse supervisor, but at IDOT he ended up with duties including monitoring contracts and expenditures, compiling budget reports and records, and processing purchases, among other functions.

“So not only was Mautino a party to patronage hiring, he had no problem with them getting positions that they were not qualified to hold, much like himself in his current position,” the ECW said. “…Our laws have little value because our top public servants ignore them and we have no one holding them accountable in this Kingdom known as Illinois.”