I-Team: Subpoena possible for ex-head of Illinois anti-violence program

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WLS) -- The former head of Gov. Pat Quinn's controversial anti-violence program could be subpoenaed to testify at a Springfield hearing next week. That program has become a major issue in the campaign for governor.

There could be a subpoena coming for Barbara Shaw, Gov. Quinn's former director of the Illinois Violence Prevention Authority.

A General Assembly subcommittee will decide on Monday whether Shaw should be compelled to answer questions about how the $55 million program was administered and whether the effort was simply mismanaged, or a veiled political effort by the governor in 2010 to help his campaign.

"We have tens of millions of dollars that have been spent- taxpayer dollars- on what is nothing more than a political slush fund of Gov. Quinn," said State Sen. Jason Barickman, R-Bloomington.

For months Republicans have hammered Gov. Quinn about the project, saying that when he was running for election in 2010, taxpayer money was used to cultivate votes in largely Democratic, high-crime Chicago neighborhoods.

"There was a failure in planning, a failure in implementation and a failure in management," said William Holland, Illinois Auditor General.

At a hearing last month, Holland detailed his report that ripped the program, but found no political or vote-getting undercurrent.

"Everything that was in that audit, we were accomplishing two years ago," said Gov. Quinn.

The governor has defended his state anti-violence program and says he did something about management issues long before the Illinois Auditor General's report found problems.

If the subpoena is issued, as expected, Shaw would be grilled on what this year's state investigation found was a program hastily-begun and so poorly-managed that thousands of dollars remain unaccounted.

Some Republicans say flatly that there was criminal activity in the program, calling it a political slush fund. The governor and Democrats strongly disagree. Whether a subpoena in the political arena of the General Assembly during a heated election season is going to get answers remains to be seen.