The challenge
City jobs were handed out as rewards for political work, fuelling machine politics and fraud.
The case
A lawsuit by Chicago resident Michael Shakman led to a 1972 consent decree banning political firing in city government, and a 1983 decree extending the ban to hiring. The rule was widely evaded. In July 2005 a contempt application showed city officials had rigged hiring for politically chosen applicants, and in August 2005 a federal court appointed a hiring monitor to ensure future compliance. In 2006 Robert Sorich, Mayor Daley's patronage chief, and other officials were convicted of fraud over sham interviews and false certifications. From 2010 to 2014 oversight passed gradually to the city's inspector general, and in June 2014 the court found the city in substantial compliance and ended monitoring.
Why the results were mixed
A legal ban with no one checking day-to-day hiring did not stop patronage; only intrusive monitoring, criminal prosecutions and a permanent inspector general brought compliance, at real cost and after decades.
Sources
- City of Chicago Office of Inspector General (2026). Advisory on the Department of Law’s Cooperation with Oversight of Its Employment Actions (Shakman background).
- US Department of Justice, Office of the Solicitor General. Sorich v. United States: brief in opposition.
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