Prairie State Wire

Conservative activist and former State Rep. Jeannie Ives called out "self-righteous" Democrat lawmakers over the record setting $53.1 billion budget passed on May 29 that handed out numerous grants to "questionable" entities. 

"It only took until page 12 to find the first completely non-essential handout to a special interest non-profit," Ives stated.

She noted that the Puerto Rican Cultural Center will receive a $1 million grant; the Irish American Heritage Center will receive $500,000 for infrastructure and the Reflections for Polished Pebbles Girls Mentoring Program will receive $250,000 from taxpayers. 

The budget bill is 3,389 pages long.

"Beginning on page 33 there are over $63 million grants to other non-profits for violence prevention, youth employment and operational expenses," Ives stated. "These are entities that likely only a few, if any, legislators have ever heard of. Some of them do legitimate work with the developmentally disabled but they are also usually already funded from local units of government...Others are non-profits engaged in 'civics' meaning politics."

She noted that the Black Research Collective, a Chicago organization that says it is a group of black women in Chicago taking research to the streets, will get $700,000.

"Every state legislator who voted for the budget should be asked if this grant is a proper use of taxpayer money," she stated.

"The Black Fire Brigade will receive $1.4 million and Black Men United will get $268,000. The NAACP gets $1 million and an entity called It Takes a Village gets $940,000. Thousands of pages of grants add up to billions of taxpayer dollars, for what?"

Ives said that in the last five years of Gov. JB Pritzker's administration, personal income tax collections are up more than $5 billion, sales tax revenue is up $2 billion, gas taxes have more than doubled, and property taxes collected are up more than $5 billion.

"There’s plenty of money sloshing around in the cesspool of government which is why billions are available for pet projects," she stated. 

Some additional largesse among thousands of grants in a budget that gave Pritzker most of what was on his wish list, plus an additional $410 million:

-$25 million appropriated through the through the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) for a grant to Roseland Medical District for development and redevelopment in and around Roseland Hospital and its medical district.

-$15 million appropriated through the Transportation Department for all costs associated with the Southwestern Illinois Connector Highway project.

-$6.48 million through the DCEO for a grant to Marillac St. Vincent Family Services for capital improvements.

-$5 million through the DCEO for a grant to the Kenneth C. Griffin Museum of Science and Industry for capital improvements. 

-$4.5 million through the DCEO for the City of Calumet City for roadway improvements, including sidewalks.

-$2 million through the DCEO for the EPIC Academy for capital improvements. 

-$1.4 million through the DCEO for a grant to the City of Crest Hill for infrastructure.

-$1.16 million through the DCEO for a grant to Oak Lawn Regional Emergency Communications Center for costs associated with a new 911 center.

-$1.16 million through the DCEO for a grant to Urban Warriors for costs associated with construction of a youth sport facility in Little Village. 

-$1.16 million through the DCEO for a grant to the Village of Evergreen Park for costs associated with replacement of lead service lines.