The following is a press release from State Rep. Jack Franks (D-Woodstock):
‘Grand Theft Auto’ Leads to Pilfering of State Funds: Governor’s Defense of Violent Video Games Law Nears $1 Million
SPRINGFIELD, IL – Representatives from Gov. Blagojevich’s office testified during a hearing of the House State Government Administration Committee on Wednesday that its criteria for choosing which state agencies would pay the legal fees for defending a state law ruled unconstitutional was based on which agencies had the money, and that has state Rep. Jack Franks seething.
Franks, who chairs the committee, continued his questioning of the governor’s deputy chief of staff and deputy general counsel for a second week about how the state handled the payment of more than $500,000 in plaintiff’s fees after losing a lawsuit defending a law intended to restrict the sale and rental to minors of games with violent or explicit content.
“We had a strong suspicion last week that the governor was using funds appropriated by the General Assembly as his own personal piggy bank,” Franks said. “Our suspicions were confirmed this week when the governor’s staff admitted that they just stuck the bill with agencies that had available line items.”
Following a circuit court’s decision in December 2005 finding the violent video games law unconstitutional, the court ordered the state to pay legal fees incurred by the plaintiffs. The state departments of Public Health, Commerce and Economic Opportunity, Human Services, and Central Management Services all paid portions of the half-million dollar bill, according to state comptroller’s records.
Committee members discovered Wednesday that the initial $510,000 bill has ballooned to nearly $1 million thanks to payments to the lawyers hired to defend Blagojevich. About $461,520 has been paid for those fees from the funds of six state agencies: the Departments of Human Services, Children and Family Services, Public Health, Corrections, Revenue, and the State Police. The Department of Human Services alone paid more than $300,000 in plaintiff’s costs and defense fees.
“There is no proof that any of the agencies forced to pay for the governor’s public relations campaign got any sort of benefit from paying those fees,” Franks said. “The General Assembly passed a budget and dictated that the money in that budget would be spent a certain way. Now the governor has, once again, completely disregarded the Legislature’s intent for his own personal agenda.”
“This completely undermines his credibility, and it’s not the first time that’s happened,” Franks said. “In 2006, after telling the Legislature outright that there would be no money for stem cell research, he added $5 million for it in the budget after the Legislature adjourned.”
Previously, Franks’ committee investigated an auditor general’s report that the governor took $68 million from the state budget to create a fund he controlled from which large campaign donors were awarded state contracts.
“The governor is going to find it increasingly difficult to get anything done if he can’t be taken at his word,” Franks said. The Woodstock lawmaker said Wednesday’s revelations could not have come at a worse time for the governor, who is trying to negotiate a budget with lawmakers.
