Opinion
No. 69 C 2145
04-12-2017
MICHAEL L. SHAKMAN, et al. Plaintiffs, v. DEMOCRATIC ORGANIZATION OF COOK COUNTY, THE CITY OF CHICAGO, RICHARD M. DALEY, INDIVIDUALLY AND AS MAYOR OF THE CITY OF CHICAGO, REPUBLICAN STATE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF ILLINOIS, REPUBLICAN COUNTY CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF COOK COUNTY, et. al., Defendants.
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER
Before us is a motion filed by the Special Master to file her Fifth Report concerning the Illinois Department of Transportation ("IDOT") with certain personal information redacted (doc. # 4910). Both the plaintiff and the Governor of the State of Illinois filed responses to the motion (docs. # 4932 and 4933). We held a hearing on March 23, 2017, which was attended by the Special Master and counsel for the plaintiff; due to a scheduling conflict, a representative from the office of the Illinois Attorney General was unable to attend on behalf of the Governor. After reviewing the parties' submissions regarding redaction and having a discussion in court on the record, the Court stated on the record what redactions we were inclined to permit. We gave the parties until March 31, 2017 to file any further submissions with respect to the redactions that should be permitted (doc. # 4955); none of the parties filed any additional submissions.
Therefore, for the reasons stated in court during the March 23 hearing, the Court grants the Special Master's Motion. An unredacted version of the Fifth Report shall be filed under seal, and the Special Master may redact the following information from the publicly docketed Fifth Report:
• The names and other identifying information of individuals who applied for, but did not obtain, positions at IDOT. Other information about these individuals -- such as their credentials, education, and experience -- shall not be redacted.
• The names of successful applicants who are identified in the Fifth Report when their names are linked with various narrative summaries; other information contained in the narrative summaries will not be redacted. To the extent that the names of these persons appear elsewhere in the Fifth Report when not linked to narrative summaries, such as on a list of Staff Attorneys who had connections to the Governor's Office, their names will not be redacted.
• Any information regarding an employee's criminal background.
As we stated in court, the above-described redactions appropriately balance the public interest in knowing the details of the Special Master's investigation into the hiring process at IDOT while retaining specific employees' right to privacy.
ENTER:
/s/ _________
SIDNEY I. SCHENKIER
United States Magistrate Judge