During his first weeks in office, Cook County Assessor Joseph Berrios hired or fired 27 people in violation of a federal court order designed to prevent politics from playing a role in most of the office's personnel decisions, an attorney in the case said Thursday.
When Berrios hired his son, sister and a close political associate to work for him last month, he said all were put in positions exempt from the patronage ban. Berrios also said the 13 people he fired held exempt posts.
But the job titles of only two of the fired workers and only nine of the 25 hired workers were on the court-ordered exempt list, according to documents provided to the Tribune under the state's open records law.
Full story here: Berrios accused of violating patronage curbs.
