State employee alleges improper hiring

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- A Blagojevich administration personnel director, now part of a federal hiring probe, was accused by a subordinate of misconduct and creating a "culture of intimidation."

The subordinate told state investigators that Robin Staggers, the deputy director for human resources at the Department of Children and Family Services, hired people without having specific jobs for them, pressured an underling to hire someone and increased the use of interns who didn't have to go through normal employment procedures.

Christina Griffin, who was personnel manager under Staggers, made the statements in an interview with the state executive inspector general that are contained in a report obtained by The Associated Press.

The Blagojevich administration has previously confirmed that Staggers -- along with two other Blagojevich aides -- is being reviewed by federal prosecutors for potential "criminal wrongdoing." Staggers, who now makes $92,500, was put on paid leave for three weeks in fall 2005, but administration lawyers who looked into hiring procedures said she should return to work.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his aides have refused to disclose what possible Staggers activities are under federal review.

The report by state inspectors offers the first hint.

It says that under Staggers, employment documents that were sent to Griffin did not state the position for which the person was being hired. That would appear to contradict procedures requiring an agency to specify a job that must be filled and then find the best person for the post.

Griffin also said she "observed a significant increase" in the number of interns, who could be hired without following employment laws granting preference to military veterans. The internships were awarded while bypassing the lists of job candidates who had been approved for hire, the report said.

"Griffin stated she was not pressured by Robin Staggers to do anything wrong, but feared the ramifications of not doing what she believed Robin Staggers wanted," the report says. "Griffin worked in a culture of intimidation."

But later in the report, Griffin says Staggers pressured her and a colleague to hire Marilyn Mazewski as a public administration intern. Mazewski, who is not a veteran, declined the position because the pay was too low, the report says.

A woman named Marilyn Mazewski, 53, is a former associate Cook County circuit clerk and was married to the late Joseph Potasiak, who was an assistant corporation counsel for the city of Chicago before he died in December 2003. She was hired at another state agency in June 2005.

Contacted at her Chicago home and asked about DCFS, Mazewski declined comment.

Staggers did not return a call seeking comment. DCFS spokesman Kendall Marlowe said the agency had not received the report and would not comment. Blagojevich spokeswoman Abby Ottenhoff did not respond to requests for comment.

Griffin declined to comment.

Federal Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald last summer said he had evidence of "endemic hiring fraud" in the Blagojevich administration. In another Fitzgerald investigation, one Blagojevich appointee has pleaded guilty to corruption charges and a friend and fundraiser for the governor has been indicted.

The Associated Press has reported that top Blagojevich aides signed off by name on routine job decisions, even for positions the law says must be free of political consideration and for which military veterans are supposed to get first chance.

The report says Griffin and two colleagues reported their concerns about Staggers to DCFS chief of staff Tom Berkshire, who "could not help them at DCFS but did provide assistance in transferring to another agency." Griffin went to the Department of Central Management Services in July 2004 after 11 years at the child-welfare agency.

Berkshire told The Associated Press that his conversations with the employees involved differences over Staggers' management style. He said no one ever told him of illegal or improper activity.

Staggers, 48, was hired in May 2003. She was sponsored for the job by Blagojevich and his father-in-law, Chicago Alderman Richard Mell, according to a list of jobseekers and their politically connected references that the AP obtained last spring.

After Staggers was placed on leave, she returned as chief of African-American affairs for DCFS. In February, she got a 4 percent pay raise.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: John O'Connor has covered Illinois government and politics for The Associated Press since 1998.