Judge blasts Cleveland's hiring practices, fines the city $900,750

Posted by Henry J. Gomez April 13, 2009 23:59PM

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/04/judge_blasts_clevelands_hiring.html

 

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and his two immediate predecessors made the city vulnerable to accusations of political patronage and favoritism, Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Peter Corrigan has ruled.

 

In a scathing 15-page decision released Friday, Corrigan blasted Jackson and former Mayors Jane Campbell and Michael R. White for ignoring civil service testing requirements. The city, he wrote, also failed to comply with several court orders stemming from a 15-year-old lawsuit.

I'm curious how much this goes on in another major cities.  Chicago, obviously (at least I think).  I guess I just want to know if this is something fairly normal, or is this bordering on the extreme (what a sad testament to the faith I have in public officials).

The sense I got from reading the ruling is that much of this started under Mayor White and continued for the next 15-plus years. The lawsuit originally was filed in 1994.

 

But yours is a good suggestion, palijandro7, and I'll see what we can find out as far as comparisons go.

The decision is a really interesting read.  The judge was clearly pissed off.  However, some of the testimony given in this case outlined in the decision is just laughable and embarrassing all at the same time.  The Civil Service Commission should be ashamed of their "rubber stamping" practices.  The members, including mayoral hopeful Michael Nelson, clearly have not been doing their job. 

I thought I would post an update on the civil service issue, from today's Plain Dealer:

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/04/cleveland_faces_default_and_cu.html

 

Cleveland faces default and cuts in police, fire services if it pays court fine over hiring practices

 

Posted by Henry J. Gomez/Plain Dealer Reporter April 21, 2009 22:09PM

Categories: Cleveland City Hall, Real Time News

 

A nearly $1 million fine for improper hiring threatens to push Cleveland into default weeks after the city managed to balance its budget without layoffs or cuts in services, Mayor Frank Jackson warned this week.

 

Paying the fine would force the city to reduce the ranks of police, firefighters and laborers and to slash summer pool hours, youth recreation leagues and other quality-of-life programs, Jackson told Plain Dealer reporters and editors Monday.

I found this editorial in today's paper pretty dead on...

 

http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2009/04/corrigan_needs_to_look_again.html

 

Corrigan needs to look again

by The editors

Wednesday April 22, 2009, 5:00 AM

 

We can understand why Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Peter Corrigan is fed up with the city of Cleveland and its civil-service practices. A lawsuit that alleges the city routinely disregarded its own charter when filling many hundreds of jobs has been kicking around the courthouse for 15 years and has been handled by at least three judges -- all of whom ordered a succession of mayors to get the city's house in order.

 

But Corrigan's latest order -- including a $900,750 fine against Cleveland, the appointment of a special master to enforce compliance and a ban on hiring, promotions and transfers across a wide swath of the city's work force -- goes way too far. It not only endangers the city's precarious finances, it ignores significant efforts to resolve issues by both the Jackson administration and the voters of Cleveland...

Judge Pete is way over his head by serving on the bench. I realize winning and staying a Cuyahoga County judge means you have to play to political patrons, but having a little intelligence doesn't hurt either.