CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan on Monday defended her right to give legal advice to state lawmakers conducting a probe into a troubled Chicago anti-violence program that was overseen by Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration.

Madigan’s role has been questioned by Paul Schimpf, a Republican attorney running against the three-term Democrat in the November election. His campaign has argued that she faces a conflict of interest because a member of her staff served as co-chair of the Illinois Violence Prevention Authority Board, which oversaw the agency that distributed $54.5 million for the 2010 program.