A sensitive topic

By Patrick Smith, Shawna Lent and Elida Coseri

There were some uncomfortable moments over the last three months as a team of Columbia College Chicago journalists interviewed state lawmakers, their staff and college students about a controversial scholarship program run by the Illinois General Assembly. One such moment occurred last week.

A reporter wanted to ask Sen. Chris Lauzen (R-Aurora) about his connection to one of his scholarship winners, James Hinterlong. Hinterlong told reporters his parents knew the lawmaker personally and he was allowed to bypass the application process. Hinterlong received summer scholarships in 2008 and 2009 to attend the University of Illinois at Chicago.

ChicagoTalks reporters wanted to give the senator a chance to respond.

This is what happened Nov. 30th:

11:50 a.m.: The first call to the senator’s district office went out. Lauzen says he “believes James is mistaken” about the personal connection and says he does not know James or his parents. Lauzen explains that a former assistant, now retired, used to handle the scholarship program. Because the former employee has been retired for about two years, Lauzen say he doesn’t know anything about Hinterlong or the process. “Jim is not showing a sensitivity,” Lauzen says, explaining that Hinterlong benefited from his secretary using summer scholarships that would have otherwise been wasted. “I make sure that I have a very good system in place for rewarding these [scholarships]…I OK them in the end,” he says.

11:58 a.m.: “No good deed will go unpunished,” the lawmaker says and ends the conversation. Lauzen then calls the student’s father, Ken Hinterlong Jr.

12:15 p.m.: Lauzen calls a different reporter who initially interviewed the student and says James Hinterlong had never received a General Assembly scholarship. When told the student had twice received summer scholarships, Lauzen explains those scholarships were just “scraps” that would not have otherwise been used. Lauzen says he just spoke with the student’s father about the issue and they both agreed they had “never” spoken to each other before. The senator says Hinterlong’s “timing was right” and explains he is unfamiliar with how the process for the summer scholarships is handled.

12:58 p.m.: Lauzen calls the first reporter back to report he now has “the whole story.” The student said he may have received the scholarships because of his connections, but the senator explains that, “James unfortunately does not know what the circumstances are.” According to Lauzen, the student’s father called about the full-year scholarship but missed the deadline. When asked if there was anything he could do, summer scholarships were suggested by Lauzen’s office. “Pertinent information” was obtained by a Lauzen staffer and the student sent a congratulatory letter several days later with a confidentiality waiver included, the senator says. “For 15 years, I’ve been in favor of eliminating the whole program … we do it fairly,” he says. Lauzen concedes he approved the student’s scholarship and that there was no application process.

1:09 p.m.: A reporter calls the student’s father, Ken Hinterlong, who confirms he spoke with the senator earlier that day about the issue. “I do not know Chris Lauzen,” he says. In response to his son saying he bypassed the application process, Ken Hinterlong explains that, “what my son understood is zero. I did the legwork, and we had an application sent out to the [lawmaker’s] office, but it was late.” When asked why his son would say he knew the senator, Ken responded, “He was guessing.” Hinterlong then acknowledges his father, Ken Hinterlong Sr., was an alderman in Aurora but is now retired. He is not sure if his father – the scholarship winner’s grandfather – knows the senator, either.

3:40 p.m.: The reporter who interviewed the student earlier this fall calls him again to clarify his statements. The student says he was “going to assume” that he was a good, viable candidate on paper, but the Hinterlong name might have been thrown around in the office or recognized, because his cousin also received a scholarship from the senator and his grandfather, Ken Hinterlong Sr., used to be an alderman in Aurora.

A few minutes later: The reporter then calls the student’s father who says he knew about the scholarship because his niece received one and a relative, who is a teacher, also knew about the program. Ken Hinterlong Jr. says he had called the senator’s office seeking advice on what was available for his son in the summer. He was told the application process was closed, but there were “vacated” funds available and was told to fill out an application. A week later, he’s then asked to sign something instead. He acknowledges the Hinterlong name is probably recognizable because in Aurora and Naperville the Hinterlong family goes back 104 years.

4:00 p.m.: After ending the conversation with Ken Hinterlong Jr., the reporter calls back the senator. When asked what “pertinent information” was obtained, the senator said he thinks maybe contact information but is unsure. Lauzen says he doesn’t believe they had anything else on file for the student about his academics but will speak to his former assistant to find out. The lawmaker says the process for the fall and spring scholarships are “excruciating” but seems the summer is not. When asked what the process was like for the student this past year when, for the second time, he received a summer scholarship without an application, the senator responds: “I don’t know.”

“You’re doing your job. Well done. You have found a hitch in the system,” Lauzen says, shortly before ending the conversation.