Quinn anti-violence program leader testifies at audit

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The former head of an agency overseeing Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn's troubled anti-violence initiative said the program mostly worked. However, Barbara Shaw acknowledges not all strategies were successful.

Shaw testified before a legislative audit commission in Chicago Wednesday.

The summer of 2010 was a violent one in Chicago. More than 300 shootings occurred in July alone and three Chicago police officers were shot in less than two months. The public outcry to do something about the violence was getting louder. With one month to go before the November election, Gov. Quinn announced a new, $50 million anti-violence program called the Neighborhood Recovery Initiative, known as NRI.

"It was an opportunity to make a difference at a time when kids were dying and violence was extreme," Shaw said. Quinn turned to Shaw to administer the new program. She had been the director of the Illinois Violence Prevention Authority since 1995. While Shaw looked at it as a huge opportunity to help prevent violence, she was given a very short period of time to launch such an expensive new program.

"There was urgency about the violence problem and we were encouraged to get this program up and running," Shaw said.

Republicans believe that urgency came, in part, from the November Election, in which Quinn was in a tight race against State Senator Bill Brady.

"I think that money was intended to get out quickly to help the governor stay governor," Rep. Ron Sandack, (R) Downers Grove, said.

It was Quinn's idea to let Chicago aldermen recommend the program's grant recipients. Quinn shut the program down in 2012. In an audit released two years later, the Illinois Auditor General found it hastily hatched, mismanaged and that money was missing. Shaw said her biggest regret was not asking for more staff.

While she and others said the program did some good, Shaw admitted politics from both sides of the aisle got in the way.

"This whole program was a political football from day one," she said.

Shaw said the only interaction she had with Quinn about the program was the day he announced it.

The hearings continue Thursday. Three of Quinn's former top aides are expected to testify. They will be asked about newly-released emails that focus on campaign strategies appealing to Quinn's base.