Dozens of state jobs involved in a dispute over whether they should be free of politics were filled by Gov. Pat Quinn's administration with candidates who were politically connected or gave campaign money to the governor's party.
That's according to an Associated Press review of state documents.
Among those Illinois Department of Transportation hires were Democratic county committeemen and their relatives, campaign workers and a former Chicago alderman.
They were hired in a process closed to the public, and without regard to a U.S. Supreme Court decision on such hiring rules.
Quinn's office says it has ``zero tolerance'' for wrongdoing. IDOT officials say they were allowed to make the hires under an exemption from state rules. But an administration audit later found 48 of 60 hires shouldn't have been political.
