Ill. lobbyist's kids received scholarships

[November 29, 2011]  CHICAGO (AP) -- A lobbyist who was able to count one day of substitute teaching toward a state teacher pension also received tuition waivers for two of his children and a nephew through a controversial legislative scholarship program, according to a published report Sunday.

The Chicago Tribune reported Sunday that two children and a nephew of Steven Preckwinkle, the political director of the Illinois Federation of Teachers, received tuition waivers to Illinois State University in the 1980s and 1990s.

Preckwinkle's children received the scholarships from former Rep. Mike Curran, a Springfield Democrat, according to a Preckwinkle spokesman, David Ormsby. The newspaper reported that Curran, who left the Legislature in 1995, received political donations from the teachers’ union in his legislative races and from Preckwinkle during an unsuccessful mayoral campaign. Curran later worked for the union as an outside consultant when Preckwinkle was political director.

Experts say the scholarships and pension deal raise questions about whether state government is set up to benefit private versus public interest.

"Obviously, the vast majority of the people of the state of Illinois didn't get a special pension deal, and their kids didn't get legislative scholarships," said Kent Redfield, a political science professor at University of Illinois at Springfield.

Ormsby defended the scholarships and told the newspaper that political connections played no role. He said Preckwinkle's children got into the university on their own merit.

The scholarship program has recently come to the attention of federal investigators, and Gov. Pat Quinn has vowed to end it.

The tuition waivers mean state universities don't recoup the cost of educating the people who get them, some of whom have included lawmakers' political allies and the children of legislators' friends. Scholarship records have been subpoenaed by federal prosecutors, and the Illinois State Board of Education has asked the FBI to look into other scholarships.

A Chicago Tribune and WGN-TV investigation last month showed Preckwinkle and a fellow lobbyist took advantage of legislation allowing union officials to get into the teacher pension fund and count previous years as union workers after quickly obtaining teaching certificates and conducting classroom work before the legislation was signed into law in 2007. Neither had prior teaching experience.

State legislators have approved measures to dissolve the 2007 law. The Illinois Federation of Teachers has said it is reviewing the actions of the union and its employees.

[Associated Press]

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