CHICAGO (CBS) — Federal prosecutors are looking into Gov. Quinn’s embattled anti-violence program, CBS 2 has confirmed.
The U.S. Attorney’s office in Springfield sought information about the Neighborhood Recovery Initiative from the Illinois State Comptroller’s office, which handles the state’s checkbook.
“We were contacted by the Dept of Justice. They made a request for information involving the Neighborhood Recovery Initiative. We forwarded that info along,” Comptroller’s office spokesman Brad Hahn said in an email. “The request was made by telephone on March 27.”
Quinn’s office had no immediate comment.
An audit released in February blasted the way the $54 million program was operated after Quinn launched the effort in October 2010, amid a close election fight against state Sen. Bill Brady. The initiative sought to reduce violence in two high-crime neighborhoods in Chicago by providing jobs for youths, parenting skills classes, school counseling, and assistance for ex-cons.
Illinois Auditor General William Holland issued a report in February, revealing NRI was so hastily organized and sloppily executed that auditors questioned 40 percent of the expenditures claimed by service providers.
The now-defunct Illinois Violence Prevention Authority, which ran the program, could not provide auditors with the criteria used to select the neighborhoods where the money went, instead of other communities considered more crime-ridden. The audit determined the program relied on advice from Chicago aldermen, not an open bidding process, to decide where to spend the money.
“IVPA failed to conduct its due diligence to document that the decisions related to the selection of lead agencies were free of any conflict of interest, the appearance of conflict of interest or that the agencies selected were the best entities to provide the needed services,” Holland said in his report.
The IVPA since has been rolled into the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, and a spokeswoman said it has a more rigorous process for awarding grants for its programs.
Two groups hired by the Neighborhood Recovery Initiative have since closed, and the IVPA could not account for how they spent nearly $675,000 in grant money. Due to sloppy or missing paperwork, auditors questioned a total of $1.8 million out of $4.4 million – or 40 percent – of the money doled out by the initiative.
The disclosure of a possible federal investigation could deal a election year blow to Quinn, who is locked in a tight races with his GOP opponent Bruce Rauner.
In fact, Rauner’s campaign wasted no time blasting out an email with a link to a Sun-Times report about the feds looking into the initiative.
The U.S. Attorney is no stranger to the Illinois governor’s office, having successfully prosecuted Quinn’s two predecessors–George Ryan and Rod Blagojevich.
While those cases were handled by the U.S. Attorney in Chicago, this request was made by the Central District Office in Springfield.
