>And, finally,it is a violation of state law for us to pre-select a
>candidate for a vacancy. Staff who want a promotion, non-staff we have
>worked with (volunteers, contractors, colleagues, etc), and<<
 I certainly don't doubt that the author of tthis  message follows every rule,
but that is most unusual.  Every organization, I have worked for or had close
knowledge of, has in at least in a few cases used non job related issues to
select candiates.  Those  organizations have included private and public
institutions. In one case, the daughter of a major donor was given a curatorial
assistant position rather than a more qualified outsider. The director could
certainly say that traded a $18000 a year job for the good possibility of a
million dollar gift was in t he best interest the institution.