A legislative investigation into an embattled anti-violence program has resumed, weeks before the November election. The hearing began Wednesday in Chicago.
Gov. Pat Quinn's administration hurried to roll out the Neighborhood Recovery Initiative in 2010. It came at a time of frequent shootings in Chicago. But also when Quinn was in a tight race for governor. That's led Republicans to accuse Quinn of steering NRI grants to communities where he needed to win votes.
Newly-revealed emails from a top Quinn aide to his then-campaign manager show NRI was part of his election strategy. And Barbara Shaw, who headed the agency in charge of the program, says it was expanded into the south suburbs at the governor's direction.
But during hours of testimony, Shaw continually said Quinn's office did not otherwise interfere.
"He did not say, or his staff did not say, you will find this organization, that specific community in the south suburbs."
The auditor general's office says it still doesn't know how Illinois chose which organizations would get state grants.
Federal investigators are also looking into NRI.
