Sam Flood part of political hiring probe
FBI questions ex-park official who sued
BY MIKE FITZGERALD
News-Democrat
Posted on Sun, May. 21, 2006

A federal probe into whether members of Gov. Rod Blagojevich's administration violated a federal ban on most political hiring has moved closer to Sam Flood, the former St. Clair County clerk and major Democratic Party player.

Four days ago, FBI agents interviewed Ray Coleman. In late March, Coleman settled a federal anti-discrimination lawsuit against Flood and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, where Flood serves as interim director.

"Mr. Coleman had conversations with the FBI concerning employment issues with the state," Coleman's attorney Eric Evans said.

Coleman is the ex-superintendent at Horseshoe Lake State Park in Madison County. He asserted in his 2005 lawsuit that he was unfairly denied a promotion to a supervisory position that later went to Scott Flood, Sam Flood's son and a former Belleville City Council member.

Coleman, a Republican, claimed he lost the promotion, then later his job, because of racial and political discrimination.

Coleman's lawsuit claimed he was more qualified than Scott Flood, a former maintenance director at St. Clair County's juvenile detention center, and should have received the regional manager's job.

Sam Flood, a former aide to Blagojevich, did not return calls seeking comment. Scott Flood declined to comment.

Coleman's settlement agreement precludes him and Evans from discussing its terms, including whether it calls for a financial payout, Evans said.

"But he was not the one who sought the confidentiality agreement," Evans said of his client.

Coleman indicated he feels a sense of vindication because of the settlement and investigations into allegations that Blagojevich appointees violated the 1990 Rutan U.S. Supreme Court decision, which bars most political hiring in state government.

"It's over, their cover is blown, it's over," Coleman said. "It's all over but the shouting."

More than a month ago, the state fired two former Central Management Services Department workers because of allegations they manipulated a job-applicant grading system to favor applicants with the right Democratic connections.

The workers were fired on the basis of a state inspector general investigation report that included notes about Sam and Scott Flood, who earns nearly $62,000 a year as director of DNR Region 4, based in Alton, the Chicago Sun-Times reported last week.

Roy Williams, executive director of Illinois Association of Minorities in Government, praised Coleman's determination in pursuing a lawsuit against Flood and the state.

"Some of what's coming out is what he said all along," Williams said. "The Flood situation is so blatant, it has impacted so many employees' lives other than Ray."

The two fired state workers -- Dawn DeFraties and Michael Casey -- appealed their firings Thursday during a hearing before the state Civil Service Commission.

Their attorney, Carl Draper, said the two did nothing wrong, and in fact tried to clean up the hiring system to make it more fair and transparent.

Draper accused Blagojevich's chief of staff and general counsel of painting a false picture of DeFraties' and Casey's actions during a May 12 press conference.

"My question is, 'What's the governor hiding?'" Draper said.

Blagojevich spokesman Abby Ottenhoff said the governor is hiding nothing.

"One thing that I will say is that (Draper is) clearly going out of his way to shift the blame away from his clients," Ottenhoff said.

Ottenhoff noted the inspector general's investigation occurred over the course of a year. "His clients had every opportunity to bring forward evidence that someone else was responsible, and they failed to do that," she said.

The confidential inspector general's report has been turned over to the U.S. attorney's office for Northern Illinois, which is spearheading the federal probe.

In addition, Blagojevich has hired an outside law firm to follow up on the inspector general probe to determine whether other state workers took part in the grade manipulation scheme.

Hiring based on politics has a long history in the Land of Lincoln. Although such a practice is barred in most cases under the Rutan decision, lawmakers and anyone else with political connections still may recommend job applicants to the governor.

For example, state Rep. Jay Hoffman, D-Collinsville, submitted a list of 15 applicants for state jobs to Blagojevich in 2002, soon after Blagojevich was elected governor, according to records obtained by the Associated Press bureau in Springfield.

Penciled next to each applicant's name was another: Hoffman's. At the time, he was serving on Blagojevich's transition team.

"If someone I believe is qualified and they want to use my name as a recommendation, they can," Hoffman said. "And I recommend people who are qualified all the time. And not only for government jobs."

Hoffman pointed out Blagojevich's election as governor ended decades of Republican state government control.

"So literally hundreds of policy-making jobs had to be filled. We received literally thousands and thousands of resumes," Hoffman said. "Some you knew, some you didn't."

Hoffman said he had nothing to do with the later hiring of any applicants he had endorsed.

"I would venture that way more people that I've recommended have not gotten jobs, as opposed to people who have," he said.

Contact reporter Mike Fitzgerald at mfitzgerald@bnd.com or 239-2533.