Obama grant being probed by Illinois AG

LadyEagle · Sep 25, 2008

A $100,000 state grant for a botanic garden in Englewood that then-state Sen. Barack Obama awarded in 2001 to a group headed by a onetime campaign volunteer is now under investigation by the Illinois attorney general amid new questions, prompted by Chicago Sun-Times reports, about whether the money might have been misspent.

The garden was never built. And now state records obtained by the Sun-Times show $65,000 of the grant money went to the wife of Kenny B. Smith, the Obama 2000 congressional campaign volunteer who heads the Chicago Better Housing Association, which was in charge of the project for the blighted South Side neighborhood.

Smith wrote another $20,000 in grant-related checks to K.D. Contractors, a construction company that his wife, Karen D. Smith, created five months after work on the garden was supposed to have begun, records show. K.D. is no longer in business.

Attorney General Lisa Madigan -- a Democrat who is supporting Obama's presidential bid -- is investigating "whether this charitable organization properly used its charitable assets, including the state funds it received," Cara Smith, Madigan's deputy chief of staff, said Wednesday.
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http://www.suntimes.com/news/watchdogs/1184049,CST-NWS-watchdog25.article

KenH · Sep 25, 2008

This is a non-issue for the presidential campaign. From the linked article:

"But Obama's actions in awarding the money are not a focus of the investigation, Smith said."

Obama grant being probed by Illinois AG

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Obama grant being probed by Illinois AG

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