Republican senators Thursday granted Robert Wright another term as Public Aid director, despite Democratic complaints that he misled lawmakers about when state payments were halted to a contractor who is facing federal corruption charges.
The GOP-controlled Senate voted 33-2 to approve Gov. Jim Edgar’s reappointment of Wright for a term that will expire in January 1999. Twenty-one Democrats voted “present” on the nomination.
The move by Senate Democrats was in response to questions surrounding Wright and his department’s relationship with a politically connected contractor, Management Services of Illinois Inc.
The firm, its owners, an employee and a Public Aid deputy director are facing federal charges of allegedly cheating the state out of at least $7.8 million. All of them have pleaded innocent. The former head of the department’s bureau of collections has pleaded guilty and is cooperating with federal prosecutors.
Under questioning Thursday by Democrats in the Senate Executive Appointments Committee, Wright refused to answer questions involving the department and its relationship with MSI.
Sen. Howard Carroll (D-Chicago) said he could understand Wright’s refusal to answer questions that might be the subject of the government’s investigation or prosecution.
Carroll said state records show that the department made 19 additional payments and entered into six no-bid contracts with MSI after July 1, 1995–a cutoff date Wright cited to lawmakers in his February testimony before the Legislative Audit Commission.
“Director Wright had testified to the audit commission to that (July 1) date as a cutoff date, yet we find that 19 payments have been made after that and no-bid contracts had been entered into after that,” Carroll said.
“What kind of bells and whistles are there that will stop the system from giving more contracts to someone the department thinks is corrupt? How do we protect ourselves in the future? There was absolutely no answer (from Wright) to that.”
Kathy Colbrook, a Public Aid spokeswoman, said the only payments the agency made to MSI after July 1, 1995, were for what is known as “body shop” contracts, used to hire computer programmers, that were arranged before that date.
