A court-appointed hiring monitor reported on Monday that a secret Finance Committee payroll stacked with friends and relatives of Chicago city officials violates a ban on political hiring. "The city or City Council's failure to disclose the existence of (the payroll) through the four years since the monitor's appointment is concerning," monitor Noelle Brennan wrote in her report, which was filed in court.

Meanwhile, council members remain divided over Mayor Daley's plan to empower the city's inspector general to investigate alleged hiring abuses. Daley has proposed the oversight in an effort to get out from under the anti-patronage Shakman decree.