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The Shakman decrees were a series of Federal court orders regarding government employment in Chicago, which were issued in 1972, 1979, and 1983, in response to a lawsuit filed by civic reformer Michael Shakman. The decrees barred the practice of political patronage, under which government jobs are given to supporters of a politician or party, and government employees may be fired for not supporting a favored candidate or party.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 work =Encyclopedia of Chicago )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】 work =Cook FP Shakman )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】 work =Leagle )〕 Shakman filed his initial lawsuit in 1969, and continued the legal battle through 1983. The decrees were compromises, but are considered a victory for Shakman, as political patronage was largely abolished in Chicago.〔〔〔 ==Background== Politics in Chicago and in the government of surrounding Cook County had long been dominated by political patronage. Most city and county employees were expected to belong to the political party of the elected official who controlled that agency. (Police officers, fire fighters, school teachers, librarians, and health care workers were generally exempted from patronage requirements.) Patronage employees had to support that official and the party organization by donating to campaign funds and performing campaign work: getting signatures on nominating petitions, passing out literature, and going door-to-door to find and cultivate favorable voters. An employee who refused to do this work, or even failed to do it well, could lose his job, whereas the most effective political workers kept their jobs or were promoted, even if they did little or nothing of their official duties.〔〔〔 Patronage employees were also forbidden to support any candidate opposed by the political organization to which their patron belonged. By the 1960s, patronage politics had secured control of Chicago for the Democrats. Democratic candidates for office in Chicago or Cook County-wide were all selected by a "slating committee" of party insiders. (Local Democratic candidates in suburban Cook County were not so chosen.) All Democratic officeholders and their patronage employees were expected to support the party slate. At the apex of this "Machine" was Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley. This led to the rise of a faction of "independent" or "reform" Democrats, opposed to the corruption of the Daley Machine, but also opposed to the policies of Republicans at the state and national levels. They ran for various offices (city, county, state legislature), sometimes as Democrats in the primary election, and sometimes as independents in the general election. But they almost always lost to the candidates endorsed by the Cook County Democratic slating committee Shakman was a reform Democrat. He and the other plaintiffs objected to the support the incumbent Democratic candidates received from public employees which was mandatory for those desiring to keep their jobs. Shakman felt that this was a violation of employee rights and free elections, and an abuse of public funds.〔〔〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Shakman Decrees」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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