by James Kellard

Created on: May 16, 2009

The idea that 3,000 Illinois state government employees should be fired because of the actions of their former Governor is absolutely ludicrous. Former Governor Blagojevich allegedly broke the law (he has not been tried yet let alone convicted), he should be held responsible and if convicted, punished for his actions. This has absolutely nothing to do with his former subordinates.

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn has already promised to purge corruption from the state government but apparently State House Speaker Michael Madigan believes the current Governor is not moving fast enough. The proposed bill, House Bill 4450, would give Governor Quinn 60 days to evaluate the 3,000 employees and determine whether they should be fired or not. After the 60-day period is over, any employee's fate who has not already been decided will be automatically fired. So what happens to the employees who are completely innocent but either get mixed up in the shuffle or are unable to be evaluated before the deadline? Well that is just too bad for them, they can think about their former boss' actions while they stand in the unemployment line, that will teach them.

The rationale behind this bill is completely ridiculous. Any government employee who has participated in corruption should be fired whether it is in New York, Illinois, or Washington DC. Why is a bill necessary to state this in Illinois? Should firing corrupt employees not just be the norm?

Imagine for a moment that your boss is fired for corruption. You have been a dutiful employee following all the rules and working hard, but because of what your boss did, you are told that you have 60 days to be evaluated, along with 3,000 other employees, and if your new boss is unable to evaluate thousand of employees in two months (averaging 50 people a day) and you miss the deadline, you will automatically be fired. How is that at all fair? As we all know, politics (whether national, state, or office), are never fair.

If Speaker Madigan finds the Governor is moving too slow in evaluating thousands of employees, he should offer to help. It would not hurt for the Speaker to work a few extra hours a day evaluating employees if the issue is that important to him. That would save time, money, and allow the state government to concentrate on more important issues. Requiring such a short timeline in which thousands of employees must be evaluated, the chances of innocent people being caught in the mix greatly increases. Rather than quickly

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>