That’s pretty much the question being asked by International Business Newspaper reporter Matthew Cunningham-Cook today.
Here’s a paragraph and a half that hints at the questionable deal:
The decision to retain Grosvenor and transfer more state [Teachers’ Retirement System] pension funds to the firm was ratified by a board composed of officials appointed by then-Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, a Democrat who had been the beneficiary of substantial campaign contributions from a political action committee, or PAC, that was partially run and financed by Sacks’ wife, Cari Sacks. Though Michael and Cari Sacks had since 1990 contributed to the Personal PAC, which finances candidates who favor abortion rights, the couple’s contributions more than quadrupled during Quinn’s tenure in office compared to the previous decade.
In short, as the Sackses escalated their giving to a PAC that supported Quinn, his appointees signed off on shifting hundreds of millions of dollars to a financial management company run by none other than Michael Sacks.
Sacks will, someday, have to account for his past life.