Democrats hit Rauner on spending for new warehouse space

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - Illinois Senate Democrats say Gov. Bruce Rauner's administration inappropriately spent money to move records from a closed prison to new warehouse space.

Sen. Andy Manar (muh-NAHR') is a Bunker Hill Democrat. He questioned Corrections Department Director John Baldwin during an appropriations committee hearing Wednesday.

Manar says Department of Human Services records had been stored in at least one building on the campus of the former Dwight Correctional Center in Livingston County. But he says those records were moved to a Springfield warehouse the state recently leased for $2.4 million amid a two-year budget stalemate.

Baldwin said he was unaware of the switch.

Manar says he was told the Dwight building needed extensive roof repairs. But there is other vacant state space.

Neither Baldwin's nor Rauner's spokeswomen had further comment.