Dupage Policy Journal

Former Illinois State Rep. Jeanne Ives is criticizing Gov. J.B. Pritzker's new state budget for awarding a $300,000 grant to a group headed by a convicted felon. 

“People want to get a handle on where this money was going and you see things like this pop up and you gotta wonder if any of those laws are followed at all,” Ives told The Center Square. “Taxpayers should be appalled that Black Lives Matter Lake County was given $300,000 in the latest budget. No taxpayer money should go to any Black Lives Matter group, a Marxist organization connected to violent riots across the country.”

According to Ives, it was revealed that BLM did not have a physical office in Waukegan even though it was required to have one in order to receive the grant, the Center Square reported.

Ives, who now heads the Breakthrough Ideas policy advocate group she founded, charges the governor gave the $300,000 to Black Lives Matter (BLM) Lake County, whose leader has previously pleaded guilty to felony battery charges multiple times, the story said.

BLM Lake County leader Clyde McLemore was recently in the news after being charged with felony bail jumping in Wisconsin in a case related to his earlier arrest in Kenosha last August on charges of “felony battery to a police officer and disorderly conduct."

While this isn't the first time that the group has received taxpayer funds, Ives said this is taking place despite a bipartisan bill that was designed to prevent it that was passed while she was in office called the Grant Transparency Act.

Ives was also a Republican candidate for governor in 2016, losing in the GOP primary to then Gov. Bruce Rauner. Ives received 48.5% of the vote. In 2016, she faced off against U.S. Rep. Sean Casten, dropping a close race in the 6th District in a field of three candidates with nearly 46% of the vote.