Another Inherited Spot

The nepotism continues:

• Former Ald. Billy Ocasio said today he wants his wife to succeed him as 26th Ward alderman, and he has withdrawn his recommendation of a controversial minister as his replacement.

  Ocasio told the Tribune today that Mayor Richard Daley has interviewed his wife, Veronica Ocasio, for the opening created when he quit the City Council recently to become an aide to Gov. Patrick Quinn.

  Veronica Ocasio is an aide to U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.). When Gutierrez was elected to Congress in 1993, Daley appointed Ocasio to fill the vacancy on the council.
  
  "Veronica is a very accomplished individual," Billy Ocasio said. "She has worked with every community organization and every Latino elected official."

Amazing. And what would the Federal Hiring Monitor have to say about this? She just released another report pointing out how family ties still seem to be awfully prevalent in city hiring:

• Mayor Richard Daley’s administration has made progress in cleaning up its scandal-plagued hiring system, but obstacles remain and significant abuses still occur, a court-appointed monitor said Thursday.

  The report by Noelle Brennan, who has monitored city hiring since August 2005, cited several areas of particular concern that need to be immediately investigated and fixed.

  Brennan said 290 city contractors were hired on as city employees in violation of federal court rules and that the City Clerk’s office this year hired nine “connected” summer interns who were relatives of city workers—including relatives of three clerk’s employees.

Seems the only qualification for aldercreature is blood or marriage. Professional leeches. The Founding Fathers would be appalled.