Motion Fails to Reform IRRRB Hiring Process

The Agency’s Hiring of DFL Operative Raises Questions

ST. PAUL, Minn. – An amendment brought by Minnesota House Republicans to reform the hiring practices at the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board failed to pass earlier this week with a vote of 60-70.

The amendment “required the IRRRB commissioner to ensure that all hiring for management positions at the IRRRB is done through a fair and open process where all qualified candidates are given full consideration and that job requirements cannot be altered to fit a particular candidate and that internal documents may not identify a particular candidate as the holder of the position prior to their official hiring,” according to a recent press release from the Minnesota House Republican Party.

The IRRRB came under fire this month after Joe Radinovich, a former state legislator, was fast-tracked for a job at the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board.

The weekly Timberjay newspaper first reported on Radinovich’s unusual hiring in which the $100,000-a-year job posting time was cut from the usual 21 days to 24 hours.

The Timberjay also reported that an organizational chart produced by board staff nearly a week before the posting listed Radinovich in the job.

IRRR Human Resources Director Barbara Sanders said in a memo requesting the short posting period that it was necessary for several reasons, including meeting the governor’s expectations.

For more details on the Timberjay’s report, click here.