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Pilgrim Baptist Church back in the newsUpdated x1

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[Posted by Kevin Fanning]

* It looks like Governor Blagojevich is finally making good on a promise that was made over two years ago:

Pilgrim Baptist Church in Chicago has finally received the $1 million promised it by the Blagojevich administration to help rebuild the fire-damaged structure next to the destroyed sanctuary.

You may recall that a “bureaucratic mistake” caused money to go to the private, seemingly non-existent Loop Lab school that rents the space:

[A]t least 59 times in the roughly 90-minute hearing, Peters professed ignorance toward what Blagojevich has called a “bureaucratic mistake.”

“I would not have any idea who in the governor’s office would have the most answers,” Peters told members of the House State Government Administration Committee.

* It looks like everything finally worked out. But wait…

The Trib’s story doesn’t tell us what happened to the other $1 million and whether the school has reimbursed the state for the check it received by mistake.

That’s one little nugget left out of the story that has yet to be reported.

* The folks over at the IR are also wondering if the grant violates the Constitution:

Where’s the ACLU protesting state funds going to a religious institution? The 1970 version of the Illinois Constitution clearly draws the money line between church and state…

I think that’s a bit of a stretch. It seems like the administration has that base covered:

That deal specifies the funds have to be used to rebuild a burnt-out building next to the church that would be used as a community center for legal fairs, health clinics and other “non-secular” purposes — a stipulation designed to fend off church-state legal challenges.

“This grant has a clear secular purpose — the construction of a community center that will house social programs open to the public regardless of religious affiliation or ability to pay,” DCEO spokeswoman Ashley Cross said.

* Discuss.

*** UPDATE ***

* I just spoke with Ashley Cross from DCEO. It appears that she was misquoted in the article and was on record as saying “that deal specifies the funds have to be used to rebuild a burnt-out building next to the church that would be used as a community center for legal fairs, health clinics and other “secular” purposes.

It has also been changed on the Sun Times website. I know that there were a few comments on that, and I just wanted to clear up any confusion.

posted by Kevin Fanning
Tuesday, Jul 1, 08 @ 9:37 am

Comments

I am glad that this “mistake” has been 1/2 corrected, when will the incorrect $1mil be return that was dispersed by “mistake” to the wrong party?

Comment by Dan S, a voter and Cubs Fan Tuesday, Jul 1, 08 @ 9:43 am
I am fully expecting soem ACLU group and a group that hates everything a democrat does (perhaps a ROesser group) to file suit to prevent this, Maybe it is old news, I am waiting.

Comment by Wumpus Tuesday, Jul 1, 08 @ 9:46 am
interesting bit in the SJ-R version of the story. It notes that the “school” which “mistakenly” receievd the money had 243 cash on hand and 32k in debt when the fire occured and staved off what looks to be the inevtiable finacial doom of the school. Interestingly, 3 days after they recieved the Grant the IRS went after the school for 29k in back taxes http://cbs2chicago.com/local/loop.lab.school.2.670470.html

The Gov also give Chandra N. Gill, a key admin at the school a pardon, for the stated purpose of allowing the school to recieve the 1 mill!!! But it was never supposed to get the money to begin with. Then the school buys an expensive downtown chicago suite with the cash.

I am bothered not just by the Gov shoddy coverup of this payout, but the general assemblies general dropping the ball as well. They fromed a grp to look intoit, intervied a couple people, then let the whole thing die out. A million dollars may sound small in the overall State budget, but this is a huge chunk of money for no body to seem to care about.

Where are our legislatures on this?

Comment by Ghost Tuesday, Jul 1, 08 @ 9:56 am
Another favor, albeit small, for his African American base. And don’t be too sure that other million will be returned, either. Blago’s minions are no doubt trying to find a way around the return of the other million. It’s not their money after all. They don’t care. But some supporters might be annoyed if they have to pay it back.

Another small, but telling indicator that he’s running for re-election in 2010. And his chances are excellent. Remember that fund raiser last week. A lot of people went…and paid into the re-election piggy bank.

Comment by Cassandra Tuesday, Jul 1, 08 @ 9:58 am
Where’s the other million? There’s a paper trail here.

Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Jul 1, 08 @ 10:01 am
Wish I could get a Million dollar mistake in the mail. Maybe that could be the next reality show/Game show.

It would go something like this.

Rod shows up at a random Illinois home, holding a big check, balloons, and a dozen roses in Ed McMahon fashion. Tells the home owner that they have just won a Million dollars. Everyone screams, cries, and rejoices.

Then they wait by there mailbox and check thier account balances for the next two years and no money shows up. I think it would be a ratings bonanza.

Comment by Speaking At Will Tuesday, Jul 1, 08 @ 10:05 am
Dan –

took this Sox fan’s words out of my mouth

Comment by Truthful James Tuesday, Jul 1, 08 @ 10:16 am
The problem with calling it a mistake, is that the pardon Gill filed was for the purpose of allowing the school to obtain the 1 mill grant in the first place. So no mistake.

Comment by Ghost Tuesday, Jul 1, 08 @ 10:24 am
That Loop Lab school’s million dollars is gone like the wind. It’s never coming back. Chalk this one up to the unnamed ‘bureaucrat’ in Springfield—you know, the smoker who left the balcony doors open to freeze the pipes, the one who ‘accidentally’ issues million dollar checks….
I’m sure DCEO will have a staffer assigned to monitor all events at this facility so no actual church member events will be held there to avoid conflicting with the law, as this administration pays strict attention to the fine print and never tries to fix things after the fact because ‘it’s the right thing to do for hard-working people of Illinois’.

Comment by Vote Quimby! Tuesday, Jul 1, 08 @ 10:26 am
Ms. Gill was pardoned for her crime which was either battering a police officer here in Champaign County or obstructing one, I’m not sure which. Naturally, we’re all interested in how her recent felony conviction leap-frogged over all of the other petitions for pardone–perhaps that was also another “bureaucratic mistkae”, and the governor really meant to pardon some other felon by the same name.

Comment by ChampaignDweller Tuesday, Jul 1, 08 @ 10:28 am
Lies, lies and more lies. The original one million was given to the school because of the issue of separation of church and state. I wish the media would go back and look at the original story. There was no mistakes made here. That church ended up with 2 million.

Comment by Maggie Tuesday, Jul 1, 08 @ 10:29 am
What the heck is non-secular?

Secular means devoid of religion.

So, is this a double negative?

Comment by Shelbyville Tuesday, Jul 1, 08 @ 10:31 am
Does Blags have to find another $1 million to veto now?

Comment by Truth Tuesday, Jul 1, 08 @ 10:43 am
“Secular” comes from the Latin for “age.” It’s use to mean “nonreligious” comes from the connotation that anything to do with time is of this world, rather than the next. It is still used by economists to mean “long-term”.

Maybe, by “non-secular” they mean it hasn’t aged enough for the smell to gag you. Yet.

Comment by Anon Tuesday, Jul 1, 08 @ 10:51 am
So we’re supposed to believe that giving a million dollars to a church’s secular-oriented building does not benefit its religious programming? Really? The church’s money is not the least bit fungible?

Comment by Greg Tuesday, Jul 1, 08 @ 11:08 am
the funning thing about this whole secular misquote is people could just simply use the word religious religious and non-religious are much more commonly understood. And dont get me started on subsequent….

Comment by Ghost Tuesday, Jul 1, 08 @ 12:21 pm
Well, we’re right in step with national trends. According to several news outlets, Obama has come out in favor of expanding (!) Bush’s faith based initiatives at the fed level. I think that includes supporting using religious background as a factor in hiring employees of those faith-based programs–the ones that will be getting more federal funds, I guess.

Comment by Cassandra Tuesday, Jul 1, 08 @ 1:26 pm
Does this administration charge $25K to make “bureaucratic mistkes” like they sell jobs for $25K? Allegedly that is.

Comment by Dan S, a voter and Cubs Fan Tuesday, Jul 1, 08 @ 1:30 pm
This whole “deal” riles me to the point of making my blood boil. There are not words in the english language to describe the lowness and sleaze of this governor. (And I did not capitalize on purpose) My daughter worked very hard to get good grades and was awarded one of those $1,000.00 State Scholarships for acedemic achievement. She got a letter in the mail from our bleep bleep bleep gov. saying the promise of the $1,000.00 would not be honored because there was no money. Yet this low life can give away $2 mil., 1/2 of which went to a convicted felon.

Following Cassandra’s comment - Who are these people who still give to this guy? Are they all contract winners and hopefuls? Or are there still people who don’t see who this guy really is?

Anon - Thanks, I learned something today.

Comment by Irish Tuesday, Jul 1, 08 @ 1:31 pm
VQ’s “unnamed bureaucrat in Springfield” does have a name — I. Dunno. He’s shouldered the blame for all sorts of misdeeds ever since childhood.
“Who ate all the cookies?” “I. Dunno.”
“Who let the dog out?” “I. Dunno.”
“Who sent $1 million to the wrong entity by mistake?” You get the picture.

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Jul 1, 08 @ 2:34 pm
Why do does VQ think it was someone in Springfield? And why do I suspect that this kind of mistake would have been made by someone much closer than anyone in Springfield to a certain public official who keeps himself and his kitchen cabinet in Chicago?

Comment by Anon Tuesday, Jul 1, 08 @ 2:51 pm
I seem to remember that the reason given at first for giving the church the money was because it was designed by one of Chicago’s famous architects, Burnham, Sullivan, ??

Also, it will be very amusing when this current batch of Blago donors get their contracts and then try to collect their payments for the work done. Oops, sorry, the state is broke!!!!

Comment by Disgusted Tuesday, Jul 1, 08 @ 7:03 pm