Governor's Rejection of Arbitrator Reappointments Prompts Questions

By Bill Kidd, Central Bureau ChiefIllinois Gov. Pat Quinn (D) reappointed nine of 11 Workers’ Compensation Commission arbitrators whose terms expired in July – but it’s his rejection of two veteran arbitrators that is receiving the most attention.Chicago defense attorney Gene Keefe of Keefe, Campbell, Biery and Associates, in a blog posted Monday, reported it appeared that the two arbitrators – Peter Akemann and Jacqueline Kinnaman – had been dismissed “without any reason other than politics, politics and more politics.”In Kinnaman’s case, Keefe ...