Administration abolishes IDOT staff assistant post

The position of staff assistant at the Illinois Department of Transportation, IDOT, has been abolished.

Gov. Bruce Rauner announced the move. The governor’s office said in a news release that the position was central to an IDOT patronage hiring scandal that began under previous administrations.

“Every day we are working to restore the people’s faith and confidence in government,” Rauner said.

“Ending this illegal patronage hiring and abolishing the staff assistant position is another step in regaining the trust of Illinois taxpayers. Government should work for the people and not the government insiders.”

On Sept. 1, the administration announced the remaining staff assistants at IDOT had received layoff notices. Their last day with the agency was Thursday, Sept. 15; they are no longer on state payroll.

The staff assistant position came under scrutiny in 2014. An executive inspector general report found the previous administrations had illegally hired employees into the staff assistant position at IDOT.

These employees would then transfer into protected government positions or perform job duties that had little or no relation to their actual job description.

The previous administration tried to lay off these employees, but the union representing the employees sued to stop those proceedings.

The Rauner administration said that it had reached an agreement with the union to finalize the layoffs of the illegal patronage hires.