* In a follow-up to a post the other day, court-appointed monitor Noelle Brennan has doled out an average award of about $8,400 to more than 1,400 people for the City Hall hiring fiasco. Another 104 people who submitted claims were found ineligible for a half-dozen reasons.
One person got $100,000 from the $12 million pool of money. Brennan also awarded $45,000 to two people; $55,000 to three people; $65,000 to six people; and $75,000 to another half-dozen individuals.
The 18 people in the top tier of awards “provided detailed accounts of discrimination and numerous pages of supporting documentation,” according to her report:
“Some claimants detailed sham interviews in which they were asked irrelevant questions and told that the position was already filled by a pre-selected candidate. Claimants were told that they would never be promoted unless they contributed time and/or money to city-sponsored candidates,” the report states.
You can view the report here, however, none of the people getting money were named in the report.
* One of the biggest winners was the son of Ald. Bernie Stone.
Jay Stone was awarded $75,000 because of his claim that he was a sure loser in his 2003 aldermanic election against Ald. Ted Matlak (32nd) because Matlak had the support of the political army commanded by now-convicted former First Deputy Water Commissioner Donald Tomczak:
“I’m in shock. I’m in awe,” Jay Stone said. “The message is we should hold fair and competitive elections in Chicago. I never stood a chance because I was up against a seasoned political army that was being paid for by the taxpayers of Chicago.”
This strikes me as a little crazy. I can understand the argument for doling out compensation to people who may have lost city jobs or appointments because of a rigged process. (Even though I don’t know if I necessarily agree with that because it hasn’t actually changed the system.)
But to give an alderman’s son $75,000 because he lost an election because “he didn’t have any clout”? If you go by that logic there are people all over the city who should be cashing in. Discuss.