XPost: ba.politics, dc.media, soc.penpals   
   XPost: alt.burningman   
   From: absolute-moron@cookcountygov.com   
      
   As government train wrecks go, the Neighborhood Recovery   
   Initiative makes me think of that old film clip of two   
   locomotives colliding head-on.   
      
   As detailed by Illinois Auditor General William Holland, the   
   2010 Chicago anti-violence program was a spectacular explosion   
   that sent $55 million in taxpayer dollars flying every which way   
   until much of it disappeared into thin air. The August 2010   
   program has been described as a “slush fund” for Gov. Pat Quinn   
   – a means of dispensing lots of dollars to (a) look like he was   
   taking action against the gun violence that plagued some Chicago   
   neighborhoods in summer 2010 and (b) shore up votes for a tough   
   reelection campaign.   
      
   Now Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez has begun a   
   criminal investigation of the Neighborhood Recovery Initiative.   
      
   Reports the Chicago Sun-Times:   
      
   A criminal grand jury has launched a probe into Gov. Pat Quinn’s   
   troubled anti-violence program —  once likened to “a political   
   slush fund” — delivering a major blow to the Democrat as he   
   seeks re-election this fall.   
      
   On Tuesday, the Quinn administration turned over 1,000 documents   
   pertaining to the Neighborhood Recovery Initiative to the Cook   
   County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez following a subpoena from   
   her office.   
      
   The request was issued to the Illinois Department of Commerce   
   and Economic Opportunity on March 19 and sought records tied to   
   the Neighborhood Recovery Initiative — including those for the   
   Chicago Area Project, a program tied to the husband of Cook   
   County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown.   
      
   Holland’s report established firmly that this program fit the   
   dictionary definition of “boondoggle.”   
      
   But the real problem here is that the Neighborhood Recovery   
   Initiative is merely a symptom of a much greater problem in   
   Illinois government.   
      
   We’ve seen all too often in recent history the results of the   
   state’s lax standards for ensuring that the grant money it hands   
   out actually goes toward the purpose it’s supposed to serve.   
      
   Three weeks ago, a former Illinois Department of Public Health   
   chief of staff Quinshaunta R. Golden pleaded guilty in federal   
   court in Springfield to bribery and kickback charges involving   
   $13 million in grant and contract funds.   
      
   Four other individuals are scheduled for trial in a related case   
   in U.S. District Court in June.   
      
   This follows the indictments in 2011 of Margaret Davis and Tonja   
   Cook, who between 2005 and 2009 obtained 15 state grants,   
   ostensibly to promote nursing careers through the Chicago   
   chapter of the Black Nurses Association. Instead, they spent   
   $500,000 on personal expenses. They pleaded guilty to mail fraud   
   and money laundering charges.   
      
   Former Country Club Hills police chief Regina Evans and her   
   husband Ronald Evans were indicted in 2012 for stealing a 2009   
   Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity grant   
   worth $1.25 million.   
      
   The money was for two nonprofits the couple operated and was   
   purportedly going to toward  training bricklayers and   
   electricians and providing GED preparation. The Evanses pleaded   
   guilty to numerous felony counts and are awaiting sentencing.   
   Prosecutors are seeking 10 years for Regina Evans at her May 1   
   sentencing in federal court in Springfield.   
      
   And these are the ones who got caught.   
      
   Why can’t Illinois get a handle on this?   
      
   In 2009, as the Blagojevich scandal was taking the nation by   
   storm, the newly appointed Gov. Quinn formed the 15-member   
   Illinois Reform Commission to help the state avoid the   
   corruption trouble that came to define Blagojevich and his   
   predecessor, George Ryan.   
      
   Go look at the report here, and scroll down to page 23, where   
   the commission recommends extensive reform of the state’s   
   procurement process. Isn’t it time to dig these ideas back up   
   and apply them to the grant process?   
      
   I’d be remiss if I didn’t throw a reality check in here. The   
   actions described above are outrageous, as is the carelessness   
   and lack of oversight that allowed them to happen. It only   
   reinforces the notion that state government is at best inept and   
   at worst corrupt.   
      
   But the amounts abused are in the millions. In the grand scheme   
   of Illinois’ broken budget, they total a tiny fraction of the   
   current backlog of unpaid bills – $5.1 billion. It would take   
   about 93 Neighborhood Recovery Initiatives (if you consider the   
   entire program a waste) to fill that hole.   
      
   In other words, don’t look to ending these crazy boondoggles as   
   the solution to the state’s deep budget trouble.   
      
   We’ll be keeping an eye on the Cook County State’s Attorney’s   
   Office and the U.S. Attorneys in both Chicago and Springfield.   
   The previous prosecutions of state grant abusers could pale in   
   comparison to the large-scale fraud hinted at in Holland’s   
   report on the Neighborhood Recovery Initiative.   
      
   http://www.rebootillinois.com/2014/05/01/uncategorized/mattdietr   
   ich/criminal-investigation-way-2010-chicago-anti-violence-   
   program/7640/   
      
       
      
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