ILL-inois: Obama mentor Pfleger, who received Quinn NRI cash, endorses Quinn for governor

Pfleger

Father Michael Pfleger, the gadfly meddlesome Catholic priest who Barack Obama once named as one of his spiritual mentors, was one of a group of religious leaders who endorsed Illinois Governor Pat Quinn's reelection.

Does this move have anything to do with Quinn's NRI program, which has been called a political slush fund by critics?

From the Chicago Tribune:

Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn received a robust re-election endorsement today from dozens of Chicago-area ministers, including at least two whose religious organizations got money from a much-criticized state anti-violence grant program.

Apostle Carl White spoke highly of Quinn during the endorsement session at a Hyde Park hotel meeting room. What went unsaid: a state audit found that a lead agency in the Neighborhood Recovery Initiative anti-violence program paid $1,000 for a golf outing put on by White's Victory Christian International Ministries in April 2011.

Also hailing Quinn was Father Michael Pfleger, the outspoken senior pastor at St. Sabina in the Gresham neighborhood for more than three decades. Pfleger's ministry has long been associated with state social services and programs that help the myriad needs in his crime-plagued community.

What went unsaid: St. Sabina received more than $1 million in NRI funds for its own community-based programs and the oversight of services provided by other groups.

In 2008, after a vile and racist anti-Hillary Clinton rant, Pfleger was briefly suspended by Cardinal Francis George.

George is retiring soon and the first order of business for his successor should be to reassign Pfleger, whose parish is now a personality cult centered around himself.

Related post:

(Video) Father Pfleger at union rally: "Congress is stupid" and it "does not give a damn about the middle class"

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