THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER – The government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic pushed an astonishing number of businesses into bankruptcy.
But there’s no denying that there have been some winners in the federal government’s $5 trillion federal spending spree. That figure included $745 billion in direct aid to state and local governments.
Just ask Amy Gentry, an executive assistant to Illinois Emergency Management Agency Director Alicia Tate-Nadeau, who billed the agency more than $1 million since 2020 before abruptly resigning last week.
The Chicago Sun-Times reports that between February and August of this year alone, Gentry accounted for some $240,000 in billings, twice the amount earned by her boss.
The revelation that an executive assistant had billed the agency as much as $60,000 in a single month appears to have been a source of embarrassment for Illinois officials.
In response to the Sun-Times report, Kevin Sur, spokesman for Tate-Nadeau’s agency, announced that Gentry was leaving and a state employee previously hired for the role would return to her $84,000-a-year post.
Normally, a political assistant billing the state $156 an hour to tap relief funds would be quite a scandal. But this is Illinois, where the bar is set a bit higher. Four of Illinois’ last ten governors have landed in prison, and the former House Speaker is set to go on trial.
Perhaps because of this, Tate-Nadeau and Gentry have decided to clam up. Both refused to be interviewed by the Sun-Times, no doubt hoping the story blows over.
The Sun-Times doesn’t appear interested in going away, however. “It sure sounds like a grift to us,” the paper’s editorial board commented Tuesday.
Indeed.
The story also demonstrates a gloomy reality: Congress’s $5 trillion spending spree has been riddled with fraud and abuse from the start. Precisely how much money the feds have lost due to fraud since the pandemic began is unknown.
“Just a year into the pandemic, it was estimated that $200 billion in unemployment benefits went to fraudsters.”
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