Government posts handed to ‘losers’
As I read the recent Herald story about the confirmation of Dan Seals’ appointment as Assistant Director of Illinois’ Economic Development Agency, several thoughts crossed my mind. The first was that all vacancy announcements for available government jobs in Illinois must state that “being a ‘loser’ is the top applicant qualification for consideration for the job.”
Think about it, Seals carried the water for the Democrat party in three tries to become a U.S. congressman — and he lost each time. Forrest Claypool lost a bid to become president of the Cook County Board and was named president of the CTA. And Miguel Del Valle, who lost a race to become mayor of Chicago, has just been appointed a member of the Illinois Student Assistance Commission.
Earlier, Gov. Quinn had twice-appointed former state Rep. Careen Gordon — who voted for the income tax increase — to state posts after she lost a re-election bid in her district.
I guess it is just coincidence that these appointments all go to losers — the lifelong, Democratic career politicians who failed to attain or retain public office. Seemingly, there must be no other “fresh talent” out there to fill these public jobs.
The second thing that struck me about the Seals appointment was that the job carries a $121,090 salary for an assistant director — and that doesn’t count the cost of benefits. To me, that sounds a tad high for a midlevel bureaucrat who would have modest budget responsibility and, most likely, only an administrative assistant reporting to him. Seals is just one of scores of people given political job handouts by Gov. Quinn to loyal supporters of his party. Is it any wonder that our state is broke?
Charles F. Falk
Schaumburg