By Eric Stock
BLOOMINGTON – State Sen. Jason Barickman, R-Bloomington, has an idea that he hopes would prevent something like the troubled Neighborhood Recovery Initiative from happening again in the run-up to an election.
Barickman is sponsoring a measure put more safeguards in place to keep elected officials from making these kinds of announcements in the heat of a political campaign.
PODCAST: Listen to Scott’s interview with Barickman on WJBC.
“Whether it’s (Pat) Quinn or (Bruce) Rauner or any of our governor, you can’t so flippantly spend taxpayer dollars in the days and weeks before an election,” Barickman said.
Barickman co-chaired hearings into the $50 million anti-violence program which was exposed as corrupt, wasteful and mismanaged – after Quinn’s win in the 2010 gubernatorial election over state Senator Bill Brady by 30,000 votes.
Barickman added while it can’t be proven that it was just a vote-buying program – it ‘smells’ like one.
“Our suspicions were confirmed it was just a waste,” Barickman said.
A draft of a new audit released this week shows fraud and mismanagement in the anti-violence program was worse than first thought.
Republican state Sen. Sue Rezin of Peru who is a co-sponsor, told Illinois Radio Network this is a step toward regaining the trust of Illinois residents.
“This legislation stops that cronyism that happens before the election,” Rezin said. “It provides a blackout period so elected officials cannot use that free media to their advantage right before the election.”
Rezin called the NRI a black eye for Illinois.
“People were given grants right before the election,” Rezin said. “There was no accountability or paperwork to accompany it. The money didn’t go to the purposes it was supposed to.”
Rezin is also sponsoring bills that would impose more restrictions on politicians who want to secure lobbying jobs after their tenures in government.
Illinois Radio Network contributed to this report.
Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].
