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State senate to hold hearings on Quincy Veterans Home deaths
Illinois senator Tom Cullerton is planning to hold public hearings after the New Year on the 13 Legionnaires’ disease deaths since 2015 at the Illinois Veterans Home in Quincy. “We’re going to bring all of the veterans’ affairs department in front of us,” Cullerton, who is also the chairman of the senate’s Veterans’ Affairs Committee, told Politico. “We’ll get the families’ take on [what happened]. And then I’m also asking for a full audit commission report on the veterans’ home as well. On the Quincy Veterans home in particular—were there emergency purchases made? Who pushed forward how the money was spent?” Governor Bruce Rauner has come under fire for his administration’s alleged lack of concern over the deaths. “If he can’t manage a 200-acre veterans’ home with 250 residents, how can he manage the state?,” state representative Jeanne Ives, Rauner’s sole Republican challenger in the gubernatorial race, said in a statement. “Governor Rauner isn’t in charge, because he never took charge. And 13 veterans, or spouses of veterans, are now dead because of it.” Rauner’s office has denied any wrongdoing. [Illinois Politico Playbook] [State Journal-Register]
