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* The Legislative Audit Commission is meeting today and one item on the agenda is the curious case of Illinois Lottery Director Michael Jones…

Emails obtained by FOX 32 and the Better Government Association show that within days of his appointment, Jones started pushing to hire a Chicago-based company called Independent Lottery Research, a company that Jones helped found and partly owned until he took over the lottery.

“I’d say ‘why don’t we keep the money in Illinois? Why wouldn’t we hire an Illinois company to do research on the Illinois lottery?’” Jones recalls of his conversation.

That contract was killed after Northstar and the governor’s office complained it looked like a conflict–the “optics” problem. But, the next month, Independent Lottery Research changed its name to Independent Gaming Research and invoices show it immediately starting getting work on the Illinois Lottery–about $168,000 in a 1-year period.

Jones says he had nothing to do with picking the company and told us to ask Northstar – so we did.

A spokesman for Northstar’s parent company GTECH says they gave the business to Jones’ old company, because Jones wanted them to.

“The director… strongly encouraged GTECH to use ILR/IGR for various marketing research projects for the Illinois Lottery,” says spokesperson Bob Vincent. “GTECH had not previously done business with those companies. The primary reason GTECH hired ILR/IGR was because of Director Jones’ urging.”

Word is that Jones’ former research company has submitted another bid for work with Northstar.

* This fight appears to go back to when Lottery management was privatized…

Now, it’s fair to say that the marriage between Mr. Jones and Northstar, which is mostly owned by the Gtech division of Lottomatica Group SpA, wasn’t made in heaven. Not only is Mr. Jones a hard-charger, but before his appointment he had teamed up with another group bidding against Northstar. Once in office, he and Northstar squared off in a nasty fight before an independent mediator over whether the company should pay $25 million in penalties for poor performance.

* And the rift between Director Jones and Northstar has been escalating…

A nasty — and growing — rift between Illinois Lottery private manager Northstar Lottery Group and Illinois Lottery Director Michael Jones has suddenly worsened.

A Northstar spokeswoman confirmed the Lottery private manager has instructed the two lead ad agencies working on Lottery advertising — general market agency Downtown Partners Chicago and multicultural agency Commonground Chicago — to work only with Northstar staff on marketing-related matters and discontinue any direct dealings they may have had with Jones.

“Northstar is the sole point of contact to Northstar’s creative agencies,” said the spokeswoman in a statement. Then, per the spokeswoman, “Northstar and the Lottery meet to discuss all aspects of marketing for the Illinois Lottery.”

The Northstar spokeswoman indicated the directive to the two ad agencies merely reflects what is outlined in the private manager’s agreement with the state. Jones declined comment, as did Jim Schmidt, a co-founder and co-creative leader of Downtown Partners.

Contractual rules and regulations notwithstanding, Northstar’s latest move appears to be a direct slap in the face to Jones, who has said repeatedly that developing a new look and feel for Illinois Lottery advertising is one of his top priorities.

* More…

As the top state official overseeing the Illinois Lottery, records show, Michael J. Jones has:

◆ Tried to get the private company that runs the lottery to hire his daughter’s ballet company for a promotion.

◆ Hired a consultant who got more than $115,000 for four months of work assisting with Internet lottery sales — even though the private lottery manager oversees those sales. The same consultant made another $46,000 in that time working for Illinois Senate President John J. Cullerton (D-Chicago), who met her through Jones.

◆ Found himself facing questions raised by the lottery manager’s lawyer over free tickets to professional basketball, baseball and hockey games that he and other state employees got.

Jones says he’s done nothing wrong and calls the questions about his ethics a diversionary tactic on the part of Northstar Lottery Group, the company hired by Illinois officials in 2011 in a deal that made Illinois the first state to have a private manager run most of its lottery operation.

Discuss.

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 10:09 am

Comments

Looks like low hanging fruit for AG Madigan. Will she take a pass?

Comment by Bogart Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 10:15 am
Ah yes, privatization of government services –such a panacea for what ails government. More contracts, more opportunities to bribe politicians.

Comment by kimocat Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 10:17 am
If this is not a clear conflict of interest then I don’t know what is. Fire him and turn it over to a prosecutor or grand jury and see what shakes out.

Comment by Nieva Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 10:19 am
Classic example of why people do not trust government workers.

Comment by Belle Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 10:20 am
==Classic example of why people do not trust government workers. ==

This happens in the private sector too. I hate it that bad apples reflect poorly on an entire group of people.

Comment by Demoralized Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 10:26 am
Yeah because if there wasn’t a private company involved none of this would have happened….

The Ballet company thing is a nice touch

Comment by OneMan Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 10:33 am
Northstar is really messing up Jones’ right to hire family and friends, which we all know is a time-honored part of public service in Illinois.

Comment by Sir Reel Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 10:44 am
yet another person who thinks they can do these sorts of things, but they won’t get caught like the other people before them. it’s almost psychopathic…

Comment by PoolGuy Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 10:45 am
It’s all part of the “Chicago way…”

Comment by Jolly1 Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 10:49 am
Cue the “Quinn digging in his heels” and refusing to dump Jones out of sheer stubbornness text.

You say you’re a reformer Pat. Is this walking tar baby the best you can do to run the lottery?

Comment by LincolnLounger Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 10:50 am
This is not the “Chicago way”. It is how many private sector operators make money.

Comment by walkinfool Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 11:26 am
Quinn may not have realized whom he was hiring, but it sure looks he needs to get rid of him NOW…

Comment by downstate commissioner Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 11:57 am
It’s a blatant and clear conflict.

He hired a company that he owned up until he got the state director’s job? It is a conflict. Quinn should fire him and then investigate.

Comment by Siriusly Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 1:45 pm
*Sigh* Another one who thinks he’s entitled and will never get caught.

Comment by Nearly Normal Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 4:40 pm
One days news story will soon be forgotten, corruption is accepted in Illinois. Quinn won’t dump him it’s election time

Comment by Fed up Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 7:46 pm
Saw a suggestion earlier today that maybe Illinois should adopt: impose a tax on corruption.

Comment by RNUG Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 11:21 pm
WWZS? What would Zeke say?

Comment by Northern Light Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 11:31 pm