AP via St. Louis Post Dispatch:

Illinois governor may defy attorney general
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
10/26/2006

Blagojevich is refusing

to release names

of applicants who were

rejected for state jobs.

SPRINGFIELD, ILL. — Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office has concluded that names and qualifications of unsuccessful state job applicants should be released to the public, but Gov. Rod Blagojevich's administration says it will not comply.

The administration should heed its own rule that explicitly defines so-called eligible lists as public records, an aide to Madigan wrote in a letter to the governor's office and his Department of Central Management Services.

Under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, The Associated Press requested the names and credentials of unsuccessful candidates for jobs filled in 2003.

Agencies under the Democratic governor hired the son-in-law of a Democratic congressman to be a pilot and the son of a St. Clair County Blagojevich campaign contributor as a prison business administrator. The information on other job applicants could shed light on whether more qualified people were passed over.

Central Management Services argues the information is private, although it released the eligible list for a different state job last fall. The agency says it is bound by a 1984 federal appeals court decision from Virginia that barred disclosing job applicants' names under the federal FOIA.

Madigan's public access counselor, Terry Mutchler, wrote to Blagojevich attorney William Quinlan and CMS Director Paul Campbell last week. She pointed out that the state's administrative code, which has the force of law and prevails over any FOIA exemptions, requires disclosure of the information.

"CMS is obligated by its own rules to provide public access to such lists," Mutchler wrote in the letter, which is advisory and doesn't compel cooperation. "CMS has recognized this requirement by providing an eligible list ... in response to an earlier FOIA request."

Blagojevich's hiring practices are under intense scrutiny.

In Chicago, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald revealed in June that his office was investigating allegations of hiring fraud in Blagojevich's administration, including whether it skirted a law giving military veterans first shot at state jobs.

The governor's own inspector general uncovered incidents in which Blagojevich's personnel director engaged in "a concerted effort to subvert" hiring laws.

Blagojevich has claimed that his office did not even look at names, let alone consider politics or clout, in hiring people for jobs that are supposed to be free of such influence.