* On its face, this looks pretty ominous…

A trio of downstate Republican senators raised questions Thursday about whether money to help troubled downstate youth was improperly funneled to Chicago-area organizations.

In a Statehouse news conference, the GOP lawmakers leveled a fresh set of charges against Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn, who has been on the hot seat in recent months after an audit released this year blasted a 2010 anti-violence program, leading to multiple federal probes.

At issue is $5 million the Quinn administration transferred this summer out of a program for at-risk youth. Republicans say some of the money was then paid to organizations caught up in the 2010 probe of the Neighborhood Recovery Initiative. […]

Republicans allege Quinn has created a slush fund to help him in his race against Republican businessman Bruce Rauner.

“We’ve seen this pattern before: the governor pumps millions of dollars into a Chicago-centric program in the weeks leading up to the November election. Enough is enough,” said state Sen. Dale Righter, R-Mattoon.

* More from Ormsby…

Barickman charged that the $5 million transferred from the Comprehensive Community-Based Youth Services program, which provides community-based individualized services to at-risk youth and their families, resulted in “budget cuts” at Downstate social service agencies.

“It’s frustrating to inform our local providers that their budgets are being cut so that Governor Quinn can increase funding to some of the same deficient providers who were identified in the NRI audit, including one group that owes the state hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Barickman said.

* More from the Sun-Times…

Last spring, state lawmakers appropriated $16.5 million to the Department of Human Services to fund a state-wide program for at-risk youth called Comprehensive Community Based Youth Services.

Barickman said that at some point after July 1, Quinn’s administration moved nearly $4.5 million to the state Criminal Justice Information Authority, which in turn allotted nearly $2 million of that total to five different NRI providers, including Chicago Area Project.

Chicago Area Project was responsible for nearly $2 million in programming in West Garfield Park under NRI and hired the husband of Cook County Circuit Clerk Dorothy Brown at a six-figure salary to oversee that programming. State taxpayers covered the $146,401 Cook received in salary and fringe benefits over two years for his NRI-related work.

* Bruce Rauner jumped into the fray this morning…

Bruce Rauner today called on Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn to submit to an independent investigation of lawmaker allegations that his administration improperly funneled taxpayer money to a slush fund that is now paying groups linked to the Neighborhood Recovery Imitative, which is currently the subject of two federal criminal investigations.

“This isn’t a partisan issue; this is about about transparency and accountability,” Rauner said. “I urge the governor to submit to an independent investigation by a respected auditor like Bill Holland so the people of Illinois can find out the truth without politics getting in the way.”

* But the Chicago Area Project strongly objected to the GOP claims…

“CAP receives funding from the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority for its ongoing youth violence prevention programming and has received funding from DHS for its youth services programming for the past 15 years. CAP has not received any new funding from DHS this year,” group spokesman Jennifer Hutchison said.

The group’s Criminal Justice Information Authority funding was for the non-profit’s summer youth violence prevention programming, and the contract ended August 30, Hutchison said.

* And so did the Quinn administration…

“This is false and ridiculous. As these legislators know, the defunct NRI program was shut down in 2012.”

* On background, the administration claimed that the $5 million was transferred to the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority in July to pay existing bills for this past summer’s community violence prevention program, which ended in August.

They also claimed that none of these Chicago-area non-profit organizations received any new or additional funding. The transfer was necessary, they said, because the comptroller’s office made technical changes about which appropriations could cover which programs. The grants also underwent a “rigorous” review process, they claimed.

They also claimed that the programs cited by the Republican legislators received the same level of funding they received the previous year. No local providers’ budgets were cut, they insisted.

And they provided an intergovernmental agreement that lays out the transfer of funds, which you can read yourself by clicking here.

* Back to Ormsby…

Reporters at the press conference pushed back on the GOP charges of “election year politics” by questioning their press conference as “election year politics”.

Barickman said that only Quinn was practicing “election year politics”.

* You can watch the full presser via our great pals at BlueRoomStream.com by clicking here.