Hynes taking heat for hiring felon who stole state grant money

Gov. Pat Quinn is going after his primary opponent for hiring a campaign consultant previously convicted of ripping off the state.

"Maybe Hynes should clean up his own house before throwing more stones," Quinn said Sunday in reference to Hynes' repeated attacks on Quinn's early-release prison program.

William Norels was convicted of stealing $100,000 in state grant money - "tax dollars that were intended to help inner-city businesses expand and create new jobs," Quinn's statement said.

Hynes campaign spokesman Matt McGrath confirmed that Norels was paid a total of $15,000 - $5,000 a month for three months - for his work in coordinating campaign events. McGrath said Norels criminal history wasn't known to campaign managers who hired him after he distinguished himself as a volunteer.

Norels has resigned from the campaign, McGrath said.

"He was paid for services rendered and, basically, that was it," McGrath said.

Quinn attempted Sunday to link Norels to Hynes' criticism of the governor's early-release prison program because the campaign consultant was set free after serving nine months of a two-year sentence.

However, Norels was released under Republican Gov. George Ryan according to standard early-release rules at the time. Quinn has been criticized for granting credits to inmates who hadn't earned them by serving prison time with good behavior in order to save money and expedite release.

Some of the 1,700-plus inmates released have turned out to be violent criminals with convictions for domestic battery and weapons violations.

Quinn has said he told his prisons director to only release nonviolent, low-level criminals under the advanced early-release program. He has not fired that director, but instead hired other personnel to watch over the program.

In 1998, Norels, 37 at the time, was charged with two counts of personal use of charitable trust funds and three counts of theft.

The charges stemmed from an investigation into $500,000 in state grant money for redevelopment in a neighborhood on Chicago's West Side.

In 1994 and 1995, the Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs awarded the grant to the Midwest Chicago Avenue Business Association, where Norels worked.

In 1995, Norels left to found the Urban Economic Development Fund, which, later that year, received $100,000 from Midwest to loan to businesses. Norels was later accused by then-Attorney General Jim Ryan of not loaning any of the money.

Norels pleaded guilty in 1999 to one count of felony theft, according to published reports.