Ex-Quinn aide testifies before lawmaker panel

CHICAGO (AP) — The boundaries between state government and political campaigns came into question Thursday as state lawmakers grilled Gov. Pat Quinn’s ex-chief of staff during a hearing about a troubled anti-violence program that has since ended.

Republican lawmakers focused on former aide Jack Lavin’s email exchanges from 2010 to suggest Quinn used the $55 million Neighborhood Recovery Initiative for political gain that election year, a line of questioning one Democratic commission member deemed “a witch hunt.”