Shaw Denies Election-Year Politics Linked to Quinn Anti-Violence Program [AUDIO]

John Gregory -- Illinois Radio Network

The former head of the agency that oversaw the Neighborhood Recovery Initiative says election-year politics were not the reason the program was created.

Barbara Shaw, won ran the now-disbanded Illinois Violence Prevention Authority, says while NRI was the largest program she was asked to implement, and she was asked to get it up and running within a few months, no one from the governor’s office was telling her to get it in place to help Gov. Pat Quinn’s re-election bid in 2010.

“The governor’s office never told us who to give the money to, what communities to go in, what agencies should get that money. The elections did not play a role in where that money went,” Shaw testified today (Wednesday) before the Legislative Audit Commission, a group of 12 state lawmakers.

Republican members of the commission pointed to e-mails from Quinn’s then-chief of staff, Jack Lavin, as proof that the program was part of his campaign strategy. In an e-mail dated Sept. 5, 2010, Lavin wrote “the Gov’s Neighborhood Recovery Initiative will also help on the jobs and anti-violence messages.”

Shaw says the only time she talked to Quinn about NRI was at the press conference announcing the launch of the program.

State Rep. Ron Sandack asked Shaw if she suspected the election was factoring into the direction from the governor’s office to quickly implement the program:

When asked about whether the timing or Chicago-focused scope of the program could have been politically motivated, Shaw said she believes it was a response to a particularly violent summer in Chicago in 2010.