Will Governor Pat Quinn be Indicted?

Pat Quinn has been in the news a lot lately about the Anti-Volience program (Neighborhood Recovery Initiative) used apparently like a personal get out the vote slush fund. A quick recap of what happened is below:

• Cook County Circuit Clerk Dorothy Brown’s husband received more than $100,000 salary and benefits
• State Legislator Will Davis wife Jaclin also received more than $100,000 salary and benefits
• The Illinois Auditor General’s found the following:
  • The NRI program was hastily implemented, which limited the time IVPA had to adequately plan for and implement the program.
  • No documentation existed showing how IVPA selected the NRI communities, and not all the most violent Chicago communities were included in the program.
  • IVPA did not exercise due diligence in the selection of the lead agencies.
  • Contracts with community partners were not timely approved by IVPA.
  • IVPA failed to adequately implement two critical financial control mechanisms: initial budgets and quarterly fiscal reports.
  • Required lead agencies’ initial budgets were routinely revised, even after the end of the budget year
  • Quarterly reports required to be submitted by lead agencies and community partners were late and frequently revised.
  • IVPA also failed to approve reallocation of funds.
  • Contractually required staffing levels were not met by community partners.
  • Required timesheets were not consistently maintained by community partners.
  • Lead agencies changed NRI personnel and contractually required IVPA notification was not documented.
  • IVPA did not adequately monitor the expenses incurred by lead agencies and community partners.

This week Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez has convened a criminal grand jury which has subpoenaed Dorothy Browns office and Governor Quinn’s for records relating to NRI. In addition to this Cook County investigation, the Inspector General’s report was turned over to the US Attorney’s office for further investigation.

This isn’t the only investigation of Governor Quinn. The Inspector General is investigating patronage hiring practices that appear to be increasing.

The memo shows that in 2011, there were 369 jobs at IDOT that could be given without restriction to those with political connections-up from 234 in 2003.

Patronage hiring, personal slush funds all sound very familiar in Illinois. These practices are similar to what has sent hundreds of Illinois and Chicago politicians to jail. If all these allegations are true, it appears likely that Pat Quinn will be following former Governors Ryan and Blagojevich to federal prison.