HEAD OF CHARITY CRITICIZES PACE OF STATE'S INQUIRY

Attorney General Defends Long Look

An investigation by Illinois Atty. Gen. Jim Ryan's office into alleged
fiscal improprieties at an anti-drug charity has dragged on so long that it
is pinching finances and services of the Elmhurst-based group, reformers
who sought the probe say.

For more than a year, Ryan's office has been investigating allegations of
misappropriation of funds against David S. Noffs, the fired executive
director of the Life Education Center, by current leaders of the organization.

In a Nov. 8 letter to the attorney general, the group's executive director,
Susan Van Veen, blasted Ryan's office for moving slowly on an investigation
for which the charity presented evidence "essentially gift-wrapped and tied
with a bow."

Officials at the center say the investigation has made it difficult to
recoup $700,000 in funds they say Noffs spent improperly on travel,
veterinary bills and other things. Noffs counted among his friends Lura
Lynn Ryan, the wife of Gov. George Ryan, who is not related to the attorney
general.

Noffs has denied wrongdoing.

Funding for the group's efforts to keep kids away from drugs continues to
dry up. United Way of Elmhurst pulled out $1,800 per month it had given the
group until it conducts a compliance review. United Way President Don
Whistler cited adverse publicity for the action.

The funding crunch has led the group to idle two of the four high-tech
buses it uses to take an anti-drug message to thousands of schoolchildren.

Officials in the attorney general's office denied proceeding slowly in
scrutinizing an agency long associated with the governor's wife, who for
years sat on the center's board, as well as House Republican leader Lee
Daniels of Elmhurst. He helped secure state grants for the group under Noffs.

Noffs, who declined to be interviewed, called a board inquiry into his
spending a "vindictive witch hunt" in a memo last year, while acknowledging
that he occasionally put charity money to personal use because he was "out
of cash."

He said he intended to repay all personal purchases made with charity funds.

The charity's board fired Noffs last year after hiring a law firm to
document financial misconduct. In October 2000, a Life Education Center
official turned over the findings to the attorney general. Authorities have
filed no charges or lawsuits.

Van Veen's letter said she has been asked whether the Life Education case
is "sexy" enough for Ryan's office or brushes too close to the governor's
family.

A spokesman for Ryan said an investigation of Noffs is nearing completion.

"Contrary to some of the wild and false assertions in the letter, we are
pursuing this matter in a responsible and professional manner," spokesman
Dan Curry said.

The financial debacle at a charity heavily dependent on taxpayer money
could have been stopped years ago, some say.

Kris Wagner, 33, a former Life Education administrator, said trouble was
evident as far back as 1994. She quit that year after confronting Noffs
about a salary for someone doing no work and a grant whose recipient was
undisclosed in financial documents.

Wagner said she tried to blow the whistle by contacting the office of Lura
Lynn Ryan in November 1994. Wagner said she spoke to Mrs. Ryan's longtime
assistant, Susan Cavanaugh, to explain she was quitting for ethical
reasons. The call--which Cavanaugh, through a spokesman, said she does not
remember--went nowhere.

In 1995, a state audit criticized Life Education Center for "serious and
significant" violations of state regulations. Noffs and his wife, Laurie,
issued and signed checks to themselves. They sometimes paid themselves five
times a month rather than two. Noffs took trips abroad on the charity's
tab. Ignoring conflict-of-interest rules, the charity gave contracts to a
board member, auditors found.

Nevertheless, the state has showered it with $4.1 million in grants since
July 1996. Life Education Center put the Ryans' son, George H. Ryan Jr., on
the payroll for a year as assistant national director and later as the
group's insurance broker.

After a review of spending records in 1999, the board grew wary of Noffs,
placing him on paid leave and hiring lawyers to investigate.

According to charity officials and memos from Pedersen & Houpt, the firm
that performed the inquiry, Noffs used charity funds for personal travel,
car repairs, personal watercraft rentals, an Armani suit, college tuition,
health club dues, cable television and veterinary bills.

His wife collected full-time wages and benefits from the charity while
holding a job with the Elmhurst School District. She also was paid by a
charity subcontractor, the firm said.

David Noffs directed--without board approval--large cash grants to a
non-profit agency headed by a board member, the law firm found. That agency
employed Noffs and his wife, the firm said.

Lura Lynn Ryan said it's clear now that budget information provided to her
as a board member was far from complete.

"We learned a hard lesson," she said. "We're hoping it's corrected now."