The Let’s Talk, Let’s Test Foundation (LTLTF), a local HIV/AIDS organization, is under state and federal scrutiny as authorities investigate the spending of $523,545, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
LTLTF—started by State Rep. Connie Howard, D-Chicago—had convinced state lawmakers to give it $1.2 million back in 2005. Now, federal and state officials are looking into how the money was allocated. Documents have revealed, among other things, that executive director Lloyd Kelly received a $50,000 bonus and onetime employee Carlos Estes got $30,000 extra;
and that more than $5,000 was spent for tickets and a skybox to a local college-football game.
Kelly is claiming that LTLTF is almost $1 million in debt; in addition, he and Howard are claiming that the organization’s problems are the fault of state health authorities.
Last year, Windy City Times reported that over $1 million in state funding for LTLTF were being held while the Illinois Department of Public Health reviewed how the foundation spent its money.