State mismanagement let unemployment insurance fraud run rampant

In this Oct. 2015 photo, then-Rep. Frank Mautino , D-Spring Valley, speaks to lawmakers at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield. Mautino, now the state’s auditor general, issued a report on fraudulent unemployment claims during the pandemic. (AP)

Illinois borrowed $4.5 billion from the federal government to pay unemployment claims during the pandemic and every single dollar that was borrowed — plus hundreds of millions more, $5.24 billion in total — was stolen.

Did you catch that? The Pritzker administration borrowed money that taxpayers were on the hook to pay back, only to hand it over to thieves because they didn’t do their job and cross-check information. It’s unbelievable and inexcusable. The fraud went on for three years and no one has been fired for letting it occur.