Sheriff compliant with Shakman Decree

Forty-two years after a lawsuit charging elected officials in Chicago were improperly allowing politics to influence hiring and promotional practices, the Cook County Sheriff’s Office has become the first public office to be dismissed from that suit.

After two years of on-site monitoring and reports of activity, U.S. District Court Presiding Magistrate Judge Sidney I. Schenkier has delivered a first-of-its-kind ruling affirming that Cook County Sheriff Thomas J. Dart is operating an office free from those influences.

In December, Schenkier found the office in “substantial compliance” with what’s known as the Shakman Decree — the first time any public office has reached that status. There remain 17 other city and county agencies involved as defendants. Since 2008, the office has spent about $5.3 million on Shakman-related expenses such as compliance monitoring and legal fees, the office said in a news release.