A stealth City Council payroll loaded with aldermen's friends, relatives and political operatives appears to violate a federal court order banning political hiring and was never disclosed to the federal court, the court-appointed monitor said in a report Monday.
Federal court monitor Noelle Brennan cited a series of “actual or potential abuses,” including many highlighted by the Tribune last November when it documented the existence of the $1.3 million Finance Committee payroll.
“The city or City Council’s failure to disclose the existence of (the payroll) through the four years since the monitor’s appointment is concerning,” Brennan wrote.
Her conclusions about the payroll mirror those made by Inspector General Joseph Ferguson in an earlier report. They come while aldermen are debating a proposal by Mayor Richard Daley to extend the inspector general’s authority to probes of aldermanic hiring.
Brennan’s report notes that the council could vote as early as Wednesday on a plan to extend that authority and advocates in favor of that change.