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By Hannah Meisel
* CBS’ morning show aired a full story this a.m. about the possible sale of Lincoln artifacts to cover the $9.7 million the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation still owes on a $23 million loan the museum used to buy Lincoln artifacts in the first place. By full story, I mean CBS even dispatched a reporter to Springfield.
Finke reported last month that the Foundation was considering auctioning off some of the items, including a stovepipe hat that purportedly belonged to Lincoln, gloves that were in his jacket the night he was assassinated, quill pen and a fan that belonged to Mary Todd Lincoln. The Foundation has paid down more than $13 million on the loan so far, but the rest comes due in October 2019.
The CBS reporter asked Foundation CEO Carla Knorowski whether the museum’s public plea for donations is a kind of “bailout.”
“We would encourage them to not to view it as a bailout but rather as an opportunity to give back to the man who’s done so much for us,” Knorowski said.
However, former Foundation board member Tony Leone is quoted as saying, “Somebody’s got some ‘spaining to do.”
“We really don’t have any serious accounting of how much they raise every year and how much they spend,” he added, saying he thinks it’s reached the level of a scandal.
* Last month the Foundation said it was in talks with Gov. Rauner’s office to secure some state funds to cover the museum’s debt. However, I’m told nothing came of it, and a Ctrl+F search of the enacted budget shows only basic maintenance spending for “ordinary and contingent expenses.”
A GoFundMe page the Foundation started last month has raised $8,814 as of this afternoon, up from the $7,000 mentioned on-air this morning.
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Jun 19, 18 @ 3:42 pm
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Probably should have someone look closely at the books. I believe some of the items have a shakey provenance
Maybe they could find some money from the Obama library if everything on the up and up
Comment by DuPage Saint Tuesday, Jun 19, 18 @ 3:52 pm
According to the Illinois Times the foundation has $5 million in the bank. Maybe use that to pay down the debt before selling off artifacts.
Comment by Steve Rogers Tuesday, Jun 19, 18 @ 4:10 pm
The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation is a fundraising arm for the library and museum. And they set up a GoFundMe page requesting $9.7 million? And they’re at $8,814? What?
Comment by Can Tuesday, Jun 19, 18 @ 4:11 pm
=However, former Foundation board member Tony Leone is quoted as saying, “Somebody’s got some ‘spaining to do.”=
If one of George Ryan’s guys thinks it’s bad, it must be awful.
Comment by Duopoly (blocked?) Tuesday, Jun 19, 18 @ 4:20 pm
I believe McKinney also did a thorough piece awhile back on the questionable provenance/valuation of some of these items. It always bothered me a bit that the Foundation bought all the stuff from a sitting Foundation board member. Thought she shoulda stepped aside.
Comment by Arthur Andersen Tuesday, Jun 19, 18 @ 4:53 pm
The Foundation appears to be nothing but a hot mess right now. They need to open the books and demonstrate how much they are actually raising, and how much they are spending, and on what.
This is Illinois, we have a huge philanthropic community especially in Chicago. Raising this amount of money for something like this should not be a crisis. The fact that it is indicates that the foundation is woefully inept.
Comment by ILPundit Tuesday, Jun 19, 18 @ 4:54 pm
–“We would encourage them to not to view it as a bailout but rather as an opportunity to give back to the man who’s done so much for us,” Knorowski said.–
Um, does she mean Lincoln? You’re going to him back what, at this point?
What a bizarre thing to say.
–It always bothered me a bit that the Foundation bought all the stuff from a sitting Foundation board member. –
Stunk to high heaven. And they borrowed money to do it.
I, however, am not on the foundation board, and actually have the real stovepipe hat Lincoln wore to Ford’s Theater.
Order now, and I’ll throw in a second stovepipe hat, plus a set of ginsu knives. free. Operators are standing by, call now.
Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Jun 19, 18 @ 5:26 pm
Word, give ya a sawbuck and a case of Old Style. Sold?
We just talked about this here last month. Now we know where CBS gets story ideas.
Comment by Arthur Andersen Tuesday, Jun 19, 18 @ 7:08 pm
Word,
Make sure they pay for extra shipping & handling.
Comment by anon Tuesday, Jun 19, 18 @ 7:48 pm