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In recent years, the Recorder has published a series of investigations into one of the great problems of the budgetary system: the occupation of public offices by hired party clientele at the expense of specialists. Alone against the party. "Kids, don't mess with them or they'll screw you up!" (https://bit.ly/3G0GBHl) A "political animal" and a waitress as an engineer (https://bit.ly/3AvGguT) This phenomenon has reached a huge scale, and the frustration it has generated in society it became so big that it came to decide elections. In the local elections of 2020, the mayoral positions were won, in several large cities of the country, by people from new parties or even by independent candidates who marched on exactly this narrative: stopping party clientelism in local administration. One of these cities was Târgu-Mureș, where the independent candidate Soos Zoltan, supported by the UDMR, succeeded in shattering the old political class, dethroning those who had ruled the city for the past 20 years. The new mayor won by promising a new way of doing administration: no corruption and no political cronyism. Now, after a year of mandate, the principles circulated in the electoral campaign have been lost on the way, and the system of political piles seems more alive than ever. Several records circulating among the employees of the Târgu-Mureș town hall and which came into Recorder's possession show how the mayor's personal advisors dictate employment and arrange contests in favor of some PSD members. We went to Târgu Mureș to document this story and show how party cronyism survives even where citizens have explicitly voted to remove it. -------------------------- Recorder is an online publication built by a team of journalists around these principles: honest journalism, done with passion and put in public service. More clips produced by us are on: website: https://www.recorder.ro our Facebook page / Instagram account / recorder.ro You can also follow us on Telegram: https://t.me /redactia_recorder