CHICAGO (AP) — A federal judge says the Chicago Park District has changed its hiring practices to ensure people aren’t getting jobs based on political favoritism.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Sidney Schenkier on Tuesday dismissed the park district from a decades-old lawsuit against political patronage.
Lawyer Michael Shakman filed the lawsuit nearly a half-century ago as an attack on Chicago’s longtime history of hiring based on who you know, not what you know.
The suit resulted in the city of Chicago, the Cook County Sheriff’s Office and the Forest Preserve District having hiring overseen by an outside monitor. That process cost millions in legal bills. They have since been found in compliance.
The park district reached compliance without a monitor. District Superintendent and CEO Michael Kelly says the self-policed changes saved taxpayers money.