Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Rep. Connie Howard suddenly retires before her term expires

Democratic Rep. Connie Howard stepped down from the Illinois House effective July 9. She cited "personal reasons" in a July 6 letter she sent to House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago.

Howard, 69, who had held office since 1995, announced last year that she would not seek re-election.

The resignation came less than two weeks before authorities arrested seven people after an FBI sting in which they paid kickbacks in the hope of securing thousands of dollars in federal grants, according to federal charges. Howard could not be reached for comment Monday or Tuesday.

In recent years, prosecutors have issued multiple subpoenas centered on grants issued by several South Side and West Side lawmakers.

Two subpoenas issued in 2009 requested documents from the state relating to grants received by the Let's Talk, Let's Test Foundation, a now-defunct AIDS awareness group co-founded by Howard, who also served as the organization's board chairwoman.

The subpoenas went to the Illinois Department of Public Health, which had given the group a $1.2 million grant in 2007, and the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, which gave the foundation a separate $500,000 grant in 2007.
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4 comments:

  1. Oh Lord, don't tell me Sawyer is going to have anything to do with who becomes Connie's replacement....

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  2. No you will make the decisoon on Nov 4th when you vote for state representative.

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  3. Worlee, Anonymous is talking about the needed replacement for THIS term. The legislature is on break, but will be back. There's the important Fall veto session, for example. And that representative will be chosen by someone OTHER than most of the voters in this district.

    And for the fall...let's get real. The Democratic Primary IS the general election for our local offices. If you didn't vote then, you didn't get a voice.

    Example: when Elgie Sims challenged William Beavers for Cook COunty Commissioner, Sims had nearly 50% of the vote (approx. 45%). But in the fall, a GREEN Party member ran (not even one of the hated Republicans) and only got 10% of the vote. What happened to the dissatisfied 35%?

    And speaking of Elgie Sims, he's the logical choice as an interim representative, especially as his election in November is all but assured. I am sure he was already preparing to take office the day after the primaries.

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  4. Yes, Elgie has been crowned State Rep, whether committeeman Sawyer votes or not. As far as the other parties, I think they need to do a better outreach effort as well as the community needs to objectively look at some alternatives and not put all their eggs in the one basket(Democratic). The political landscape in the 6th ward as most have come to know it is dead. There will numerous changes going forth, in ideaology and who will run.

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