Now that the Cook County Recorder of Deeds Office has merged with County Clerk Karen Yarbrough's office, a federal watchdog over the clerk's employment practices wants court permission to also keep an eye on recorder activities, but Yarbrough is resisting.
The request was made by lawyers Michael Shakman and Paul Lurie, as well as by Independent Voters of Illinois-Independent Precinct Organization.
Shakman has acted as a reformer since 1969, when he and others sued the Cook County Democratic Party in Chicago federal court to fight patronage. That suit led to court orders, which bar Illinois government agencies from letting politics improperly control government jobs and allows for federal oversight of hiring in Cook County and Springfield.
Yarbrough, a 70-year-old Democrat, has been county clerk since 2018 and served as recorder from 2012 to 2018. She was also a state representative from 2001 to 2013. On Dec. 7, 2020, the recorder's office was abolished, with its responsibilities transferred to the clerk's office.
Shakman has alleged Yarbrough has ignored court orders by making political hires, soliciting campaign donations from workers on their private cell phones and trying to squeeze out supervisors who were not allies.
With the recorder's office gone, Shakman wants authorization to keep watch on recorder functions as they are now conducted by Yarbrough.
Yarbrough is arguing court approval is unnecessary, because "any issues related to employment at the Recorder's office" terminated when that office ceased to exist. In addition, further authorization is redundant, in that the clerk's office is already under a Shakman monitor.
"None of the employment policies in place at the Recorder’s office will have any bearing on the Clerk’s human resource operations. In fact, the Clerk does not even have
access to personnel files or disciplinary records from the Recorder's Office, as these records have been removed by the County and placed in storage," Yarbrough said.
Yarbrough added, "There will not be separate 'Clerk' or 'Recorder' employees. Instead, all employees will be employees of the Clerk’s office. The Clerk’s office has its own
employment policies and procedures."
Nonetheless, Yarbrough noted the court orders pertaining to oversight of the two offices "contained conflicting obligations," making it "impossible to comply with all obligations simultaneously."
In a Dec. 15 filing, Shakman countered, "A local government must obey federal court orders unless or until they are modified or dissolved. It cannot unilaterally undo or evade federal court orders and First Amendment protections by dissolving an office or employment positions to reconstitute them within another office."
Shakman said he didn't see how any problems would ensue for the clerk, observing, "The Clerk is unlikely to adopt two sets of employment policies, one for Recording Positions and one for the existing Clerk positions."
Shakman continued, saying Yarbrough has not pointed to any issues between the differing orders that would make compliance hard or not possible.
In summary, Shakman observed, "The Clerk treats the matter as akin to a corporate transaction in which it acquired only assets and did not assume liabilities."
District Judge Edmund Chang is presiding over the case. A status hearing was set for this week.
In April, Magistrate Judge Sidney Schenkier found Yarbrough skirted rules for the clerk's office, by not posting certain job vacancies to the public and how she rotated supervisors.
“The evidence shows without question that the County Clerk violated this unequivocal mandate,” Schenkier concluded, regarding the vacancies.
Schenkier also said that while Yarbrough was recorder from 2012 to 2018, she "came under fire on a number of occasions" concerning accusations of "unlawful political discrimination."
Shakman and the other plaintiffs are represented by Locke Lord LLP, of Chicago, and Shakman's firm of Miller, Shakman, Levine & Feldman.
Yarbrough is represented by the Chicago firm of Hinshaw & Culbertson.