Another Quinn coinkydink
Monday, Jun 1, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Between election day and inauguration day, former Gov. Pat Quinn’s office handed out 609 grants totaling $404.6 million. The Sun-Times zeroes in on one of them today…
The village of Melrose Park was awarded a $3 million grant just weeks after its mayor, Ronald Serpico, ordered a stretch of a street in the west suburb to be named after the late father of a top Quinn aide — John D’Alessandro, who was his chief operating officer. Melrose Park has gotten $2.7 million of the grant so far.
* You should definitely go read the whole thing…
Quinn’s Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity — the agency that gave out the grants — fell under the oversight of D’Alessandro in the governor’s office.
D’Alessandro, 28, who grew up in Melrose Park, joined Quinn’s staff in 2011 as his scheduler and travel aide. He’d risen to deputy chief of staff when he left the state payroll last June to work for the Democratic Governors Association, which pumped $5 million into Quinn’s campaign against Rauner…. He rejoined Quinn’s staff as chief operating officer after the Nov. 4 election.
Around that time, Serpico decided to honor D’Alessandro’s late father — also named John D’Alessandro — by placing his name on a street sign or monument at the corner of 25th Avenue and Division Street as part of the suburb’s marquee “Gateway Project” a few blocks north of Village Hall, according to Melrose Park village records.
The elder D’Alessandro had passed away four years earlier.
* The paper ties that grant to another, more well-known and far more controversial Quinn grant…
D’Alessandro is a longtime friend of Anthony Abruzzo, a member of the Melrose Park village board, but says they never discussed the honorary street name. […]
Abruzzo, 31, owns the architectural firm Forza Design & Consulting Inc. His biggest clients include Cinespace, which got five grants totaling $27.3 million under Quinn — including the $10 million the film studio ended up returning. Cinespace paid Abruzzo’s company about $60,000 out of state grant money, according to records Cinespace filed with the state.
Flat denials, explanations, etc. can be found by reading the whole thing.
- anon - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 10:20 am:
Wow!! Just, Wow!!!
- Collinsville Kevin - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 10:24 am:
This is the “spend” part of “tax and spend.”
- Anonymous - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 10:27 am:
Quinn: “Miss me yet?”
State: “NO!!!”
- Anom - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 10:28 am:
So, from the first excerpt you zeroed in on, are you implying that Melrose Park was awarded their grant because a street sign was changed? I think those grants were more to gin up votes for Quinn in the waning days of the election.
- Very Fed Up - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 10:29 am:
This is why Quinn had 0 credibility in asking the middle class for more of their paychecks.
- Citizen - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 10:29 am:
Why is anyone surprised by this? This is one reason why we are where we are at.
- Shanks - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 10:30 am:
And this is surprising? It’s Illinois.
- Precinct Captain - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 10:31 am:
==- Anom - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 10:28 am:==
How did you feel about Rauner’s donations to churches and credit unions?
- Shemp - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 10:31 am:
Never a Quinn fan, but that he was seen as a populist is what makes this so disappointing to read.
- Walter Mitty - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 10:32 am:
Wow… And that’s why Rauner is fighting so hard to cut waste… This doesn’t help the optics of getting the 5% back we need… This is why if IF Rauner add’s revenue.. The Dems are going to need to cut… Wow.. Just Wow..
- Tom Joad - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 10:33 am:
So much for Quinn and his good guy phony reputation.
- Anonymous - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 10:35 am:
==How did you feel about Rauner’s donations to churches and credit unions?==
Were they made with State money?
- ABC Lawyer - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 10:35 am:
==How did you feel about Rauner’s donations to churches and credit unions?==
You mean Rauner spending his own money and not tax payer money?
- Empty Chair - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 10:36 am:
Say what you want about the timing of these grants, but bringing John D’Alessandro Sr. and the naming of a street in his honor is absurd and upsetting. They say you can judge a man by who shows up to his funeral, and I was at John D’Alessandro Sr.’s funeral. The town of Melrose Park shut down. Police from several nearby towns were involved in the massive escort between the service and his burial. The man was described by those who knew him - and there were many - as an institution in the town. He died too young, and naming a street in his honor is the least that town could do to remember his legacy. The S-T went one step too far by suggesting that JD (the son) would utilize (or even need) political favors to get a street named after his father.
- Citizen - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 10:37 am:
@Precinct Captain
Rauner was not giving away the states $$$$$, your money and mine, that’s the difference.
- Anom - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 10:38 am:
Precinct Captian
Donations to church? Great. I’m sure the donations weren’t altruistic. He, like Quinn, was trying to buy as many votes as he could.
And let’s be clear. Rauner didn’t DONATE to any credit unions. He put up a million dollars for the credit union to give out loans. He made money off of that investment. Whether or not he kept the interest off that investment, I don’t know. But he didn’t donate money to any credit union.
- Nick Danger - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 10:40 am:
“coinkydink”….BAAHAHAHAHAHAHA
- Wordslinger - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 10:41 am:
It’s crazy to give any governor that much grant power. It’s bound to be abused.
- Anom - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 10:41 am:
Citizen-
Park Grants aren’t giving away money. They are improving parks in towns, which then make the town that has nicer parks look better to that young couple that is looking for a new place to live with their young kids. You make it seem like park grants are evil. Don’t you like having a nice neighborhood park in your town?
- Hedley Lamarr - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 10:42 am:
“Forget it Jake. It’s Chinatown.”
- Walter Mitty - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 10:42 am:
Rauner may have a commercial cut by noon… This just gave him a fastball down the middle.. Even someone on the Sox could hit this out…
- chi - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 10:45 am:
And if Quinn had doled out the grants prior to the election, the “Watchdogs” would say he was trying to buy votes.
- Wordslinger - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 10:52 am:
– And thats why Rauner is fighting so hard to cut waste–
Where? How? Certainly not in his proposed budget.
Campaigning is fun.
- Stuff Happens - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 11:00 am:
Paid for by the “See, I’m not so bad, support me” Rauner Foundation.
- VanillaMan - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 11:02 am:
That $404,600,000 could have been used for something legitimate.
- Honeybear - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 11:07 am:
I wonder if this was related to DCEO’s Chief Financial Officer ( a holdover from Dem administrations) being perp walked out of the building a couple weeks ago? I believe she had sign off authority. Nobody knows why she was marched out of the building. Maybe this had something to do with it.
- Soccertease - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 11:10 am:
Mayor Serpico. Really? D’Allesandro, Quinn top aide age 28? Doesn’t pass smell test.
- Q - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 11:12 am:
Honeybear, unlikely.
- North Shore Joe - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 11:16 am:
the Fenwick mafia strikes again.
- North Shore Joe - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 11:18 am:
wait, why do you need 2.7 million dollars to name a street after somebody?
- Cantankerous Cal - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 11:24 am:
Wait, you’re telling me that an outgoing administration, facing a successor administration that was philosophically / ideologically opposed to its method of governance, chose to sprint to the finish rather than going on a two month long paid holiday? SCANDALOUS.
- Centennial - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 11:33 am:
Wait. JD got paid $182k by the DGA for 5 months of work?? Is that a typo?
- chi - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 11:34 am:
=wait, why do you need 2.7 million dollars to name a street after somebody?=
Exactly. You don’t. The article raises a bunch of false alarms, and can’t connect any of of the grants to improper behavior.
- Responsa - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 11:42 am:
I’m sure the taxpayers in struggling rural farming communities of central Illinois and the taxpayers in the struggling ex-factory towns of western Illinois have no problem whatsoever with paying millions for a fancy street sign in Melrose Park. Sheesh. Yes. That is sarcasm.
- anon - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 11:59 am:
You would think one of these benefactors would have cut Pat’s lawn every now and then.
- Chicago Guy - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 12:31 pm:
I’m more bothered by the grant to link the parking garage to the fashion outlet mall.
- nixit71 - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 12:37 pm:
==paying millions for a fancy street sign==
I see your street sign and raise you 2 monuments:
http://www.melrosepark.org/division-st-gateway-enhancement-begins-spring-2015/
- A guy - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 12:41 pm:
The legacy continues…
- Reo Symes, M.D. - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 12:44 pm:
Interesting stuff. But it’s curious, isn’t it, that the Sun-Times is going after Quinn post-mortem. The reporters and editors there know that they are not permitted to go after Rauner. None of them wants to end up roadkill like McKinney.
- Nick Naylor - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 12:44 pm:
Former CUB founder Pat Quinn and former IL State Treasurer Pat Quinn would be appalled by this revelation.
- nixit71 - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 12:54 pm:
3 of the top 4 donors to the Democratic Governors Assn in 2014 were the usual suspects:
AFSCME = $4.6M
NEA = $3.4M
AFT = $2.7M
- Responsa - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 1:04 pm:
==But it’s curious, isn’t it, that the Sun-Times is going after Quinn post-mortem.==
Curious? The timing bothers you? You’d rather this abuse of state funds had not ever surfaced or been exposed? Isn’t getting at the truth generally considered to be the purpose of a “post mortem”?
- Kodachrome - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 1:13 pm:
So here’s my question - where exactly in the 2014 budget was this kind of money, $404 Mil, taken from?
- Arthur Andersen - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 1:25 pm:
From reading the “Top 10″ list (gosh I miss Letterman) 5 of the 10 largest grants went to Cook County EDA for weatherization-energy assistance. If this is Fed LIHEAP money, $120 million is a lot of cash but may or may not be out of line depending on the total LIHEAP approp for the year. Now, if they just created a state-funded program through a capital bill and gave all the money to Cook, that’s well, interesting to say the least.
- Juice - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 1:42 pm:
AA, from the IOC website it appears the CEDA contracts are in line with what they have gotten in other years, so it appears it is mostly LIHEAP or some other non-capital bill weatherization program, and not some new program shoved out at the end.
- Arthur Andersen - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 3:12 pm:
Thanks, Juice. That takes a bit of the burn off this story.
- Soccermom - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 3:39 pm:
I am sure that D’Allessandro will be able to make just as much, if not more, in the private sector.
- phocion - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 4:02 pm:
Soccermom - you’re sure about that? What is he doing now?