At my Uni I have been both the beneficiary and victim of this sort of thing.

I've been to interviews where I was there just to prove they did interviews and I also spent half a year working the politics to create a job for myself.

I have a friend who is loved by her coworkers (and myself) who we'd all like to see get a promotion but they may be obligated to do a national search. Stuff like that happens all the time.