Politics

CHICAGO (CBS) ― The state is freezing $2.35 million in grant money for Cook County Board President Todd Stroger's job training program after a probe raised questions about spending and accounting practices at the office, the Sun-Times is reporting.

The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity is also demanding the county program -- named the President's Office of Employment and Training, or POET -- return $1.8 million in unspent grant money dating back to 2007

In a strongly worded letter sent Friday from the state commerce department to the county, the state also said it is cutting off the county's direct access to grant money for POET's summer job program for youth, directing administrators to go through a rigorous reimbursement program through the state.

The order comes on the heels of POET, a $14 million-a-year program, failing to pay some of the 16- to 24-year-old employees in the program, among other allegations, according to the state.

The job-training program, serving the south and west surburbs, has faced a string of bad headlines in the last two years. Its former financial manager was sentenced to four years in prison this year after pleading guilty to stealing more than $100,000 from the program.

And last year, three former POET employees were charged with conspiring with two ministers to siphon more than $2 million from banks and taxpayers for sham training, prosecutors said.

Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity officials say they are not trying to shut the doors on the program. Instead, they want to push it toward more responsible management.

"We're taking this action so the program will continue and the participants can get paid for the work they do," said Marcelyn Love, a spokesman for the state commerce department.

Stroger spokesman Sean Howard said POET's administrators have been directed to work with the state to resolve the problem.

Karen Crawford, who heads the POET office, said bookkeeping and other paperwork problems are being ironed out.

That includes filling out the paperwork necessary to keep grant money flowing to the county and making sure that employee paperwork is filled out so they can get their paychecks.

But the problems cited by the state reach beyond just paperwork.

Noting that federal stimulus dollars pay for the youth program, Therese McMahon, of the state's Bureau of Workforce Development, wrote to the county: "Cook County POET is not providing a meaningful work experience for their participants as required by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act."

Crawford disagreed, saying a full review -- including visiting job sites -- showed most kids were getting proper training.

About 1,200 youth found work through the program. And many more adults get back on their feet, Crawford says.

"I can just tell you in my experience in 2½ years, the work POET does changes people's lives," Crawford said.

But Cook County Commissioner Tim Schneider, who sits on the County Board's Workforce Development Committee, is adding this to the list of problems at the county.

"I think it's a microcosm of the big picture -- in Cook County, there's a lack of accountability, there's a lack of efficiency and there's a lack of leadership that wants to effectively turn the ship around."

Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th) is running against Stroger for County Board President in 2010, and she issued a statement Tuesday on the problems at the job training program.

"Now, in a time of economic crisis, on a national, state, and county-level, there is an even greater need for not only employment programs, but programs that provide the job training to ensure future placement," Preckwinkle said in a news release.

She said if elected, one of her priorities would be ensuring accountability in county programs.

"This is another example of a good program that has been obstructed by the waste, fraud and abuse of the current Cook County government", Preckwinkle said in the release.

The Chicago Sun-Times' Lisa Donovan contributed to this report, via the STNG Wire

(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

Editor's Picks

• Real Or Fake?
• Celebs Who Lean To The Right
• Top 10 Smartest And Dumbest Dog Breeds
• World's Most Useless Facts