CHICAGO, May 13 (UPI) -- Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich said two personnel officials have been fired for rigging tests for 28 people seeking state jobs or promotions.
Blagojevich announced the firings -- which were carried out a month ago -- at a Friday news conference.
However, the attorney for Dawn DeFraties and Michael Casey told The Chicago Tribune that the governor's top staff pushed the applications.
"If the governor wanted to stop this practice, he needed to stop it in his own office by stopping the sending of applications down to (the Department of Central Management Services)," attorney Carl Draper said.
DeFraties, who made $96,000 a year as CMS director, and Casey, who made $52,000 as deputy director, were moved to other state agencies in early 2005 after an inspector general's investigation began.
Both are appealing their firing.
Of the 28 people whose tests were allegedly rigged, only nine were hired or won promotions, a governor's spokeswoman said.
The firings came as a federal grand jury investigates hiring in the Blagojevich administration dating back March 2002, when Blagojevich won the Democratic primary, the newspaper reported.
