Attorney who once hired Obama quits Illinois investment board
Allison S. Davis, the Chicago lawyer whose former firm once employed President Barack Obama, has resigned from the Illinois State Board of Investment.
The board manages $11.3 billion in assets for Illinois's legislators, judges and state employees, according to its 2008 annual report.
Citing state government ethics act revisions signed into law last month by Governor Patrick Quinn, Davis submitted his resignation on April 17, according to a copy of his letter obtained from the board today through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Quinn was sworn in as the state's 41st governor on Jan. 29, about an hour after his impeached predecessor, Rod Blagojevich, was removed from office by the state Senate. Quinn's first act as governor was to charter the Illinois Reform Commission to study government corruption and recommend changes.
The ethics legislation signed by Quinn on April 3 ended all gubernatorial appointments to state pension boards and required Quinn and his successors to name replacements within 60 days.
It also made the taking of a direct financial interest in the investment of public pension money a felony, and the hiring of a person to influence the outcome of an investment decision punishable by a $10,000 fine.
"The governor signed the bill into law because he firmly believes such reform is essential to destroying a culture of corruption," Quinn's spokesman, Bob Reed, said in an e-mailed statement.
Reed declined to comment on Davis's resignation, as did William Atwood, executive director for the State Board of Investment.
Davis, formerly a partner in the firm now known as Miner, Barnhill & Galland, didn't return a call seeking comment. He is now a principal in the Chicago real-estate development firm Davis Associates Managers LLC.
Obama was an associate at the firm then known as Davis, Miner & Barnhill from 1993 to 1995 and briefly a partner in 1996 before being elected to the Illinois Senate.
The firm also represented real-estate developer Antoin "Tony" Rezko, who was convicted last year in part for plotting with another man to take kickbacks from investment firms doing business with the state Teachers Retirement System pension fund.
Blagojevich, for whom Rezko raised more than $1.4 million, was indicted for corruption on April 2 and has pleaded innocent. Prosecutors have said Rezko, who hasn't yet been sentenced, is cooperating in their case against the governor.