Quinn: “no shenanigans” with UNO grant
By TINA SFONDELES and DAN MIHALOPOULOS Staff Reporters June 8, 2013 3:10PM
Gov. Pat Quinn tours the farmer's market Saturday at 61st Street and Dorchester Avenue in Chicago. | Tina Sfondeles~Sun-Times
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Updated: June 9, 2013 2:30AM
Vowing to ensure there will be “no shenanigans” with a state charter-school grant, Gov. Pat Quinn on Saturday defended his decision to restore funding to the politically influential United Neighborhood Organization.
Quinn had cut off UNO’s $98 million grant six weeks ago, after the Chicago Sun-Times reported $8.5 million in taxpayer money given to UNO went to companies owned by two brothers of the group’s No. 2 executive. But a day after his aides said the grant suspension will be lifted, Quinn said his about-face doesn’t mean he condones the money going to UNO insiders.
“No, we’re very displeased with that,” the governor said at an appearance at a farmers market on the South Side.
Quinn said the not-for-profit organization IFF, which will oversee the completion of the UNO Soccer Academy Charter High School at 51st and St. Louis that the newly released state money will pay to finish, has a “sterling reputation.”
“It’s very important that we make sure it’s done right,” the governor said. “We want those children to have a school they can go to this fall, but there will be no conflicts of interest and no shenanigans with respect to its construction.”
Juan Rangel, UNO’s chief executive officer, has apologized for the scandal and announced the