Rauner Orders Names Of Political Hires Posted Online

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Gov. Bruce Rauner issued an executive order Thursday, requiring the state to publish a list of all political hires.

All employees who are exempt from Rutan hiring rules – which prohibit politics from playing a role in hiring, firing, or promotions in most state jobs – would have their names published on the Illinois Transparency & Accountability Portal website, at accountability.illinois.gov.

"The people of the state of Illinois will now have a way to find the state's political hires very quickly, real-time, all the time," Rauner said. "The executive order also instructs the Illinois Department of Central Management Services to assist units of local government in providing information about their employees for posting on the ITAP website."

The governor said his executive order is the first step toward earning back people's trust in government.

"The issues here are not only at the state level, they're at local government; and we've got to help our … local taxpayers get a handle on their local government spending, so we can start to rein in our property tax issues," he said.

Rauner said similar legislation was passed while Gov. Pat Quinn was in office, but was not implemented. As a result, he said good government has taken a back seat to secrets.

"We saw this up close throughout the last year, with the multiple political hires made through the Illinois Department of Transportation. Trying to find the political hires was very difficult, and it's shocking that after the scandal broke, it just was more of the same," he said. "Unfortunately Governor Quinn has continued the past legacy of Governor Blagojevich in this stuff."