Illinois lawmakers continue to shine a light on a troubled anti-violence program once touted by Governor Pat Quinn. Tuesday, a legislative panel voted to give itself subpoena power.
The program, known as the Neighborhood Recovery Initiative, was meant to address violence in Chicago. But a recent audit says it was hastily implemented and didn't even send money to the most violent communities.
State Sen. Jason Barickman pushed for the subpoena powers.
"You read the audit, and it's clear that we have more work to do to get to the bottom of this," the Bloomington Republican said.
Barickman acknowledges reports that local and federal prosecutors are already looking into the program. But he says legislators have a duty to find things out for themselves.
"Our efforts here certainly are not duplicative of those in law enforcement."
Gov. Quinn suggests this is old news.
"You know, politics as usual. It's a political time of year. We shut the program down. That's the bottom line. We did it two years ago."
At the same time, Quinn is blaming grant recipients for being reckless with state money under the Neighborhood Recovery Initiative. He says the grant recipients should be careful, and expect scrutiny.
“Any group that receives public money has to be accountable. With respect to anything they did with the money, if it wasn’t proper or right, they have to be held accountable and if there’s anything wrong, we have to get to the bottom of it. And that’s exactly why I shut this program down. I felt that it was not going in the right direction,” he said.
The governor is supporting legislation, sponsored by State Rep. Fred Crespo (D-Hoffman Estates), that’s supposed to put grants under greater oversight and spending restrictions. That bill has passed the House and is under consideration in the Senate.
