8/8/2019 Lee's 12/13/10 follow-up to Gery Chico re: the Save-A-Life Foundation investigations - NO REPLY

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Sent via e-mail to gchico@chiconunes.com, gery@gerychicoformayor.com

Faxed to (312)463-1001

December 13, 2010

Gery Chico

Chico & Nunes, P.C.

333 West Wacker Drive Suite 1800

Chicago, IL 60606

Dear Mr. Chico,

I havent received a reply to my November 30 inquiry to you in which I asked three quick questions

about investigations re: the Save-A-Life Foundation (SALF), a Chicago-area nonprofit with which youand your wife Sunny were associated.

According to a SALF press release, Mrs. Chico said you were instrumental in bringing SALF into the

Chicago Schools. Based on a video of a 1999 presentation to the Chicago School Board by SALF

founder/president Carol Jean Spizzirri and SALF board member Carlos Azcoitia, that statement appears

accurate.

In a 2006 WLS-TV I-Team story, Chuck Goudie reported:

One of Illinois' highest profile charities teaches the Heimlich maneuver to children while

maneuvering the truth to get money from government and big business. It's called the Save-A-

Life Foundation and is known across Illinois as an organization that teaches schoolchildren

how to respond in emergencies. For the past few years, Save-A-Life has received millions of

dollars in government funds and corporate donations. An ABC7 I-Team investigation has

uncovered a series of misleading claims and deceptive credentials that raise doubts about Save-

A-Life's integrity, funding and training.

Since then, dozens of critical media reports about SALF have appeared around the country. Reportedly

the Il Attorney Generals office is now investigating the organization. Last week I learned that the US

Department of Health & Human Services has asked the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention

(CDC) to review concerns about a CDC Deputy Director who simultaneously worked as SALFs

corporate treasurer while the CDC was funding SALF. As I informed you in my November 30 letter, last

month a San Diego newspaper story by veteran reporter Don Bauder entitled Where Did the Save-A-Life

Money Go? included troubling details about Ms. Spizzirris criminal and personal background.

Since my previous letter, a number of news stories have reported your call for higher standards of

conduct by public officials, such as this December 2 Sun-Times column by Lynn Sweet:

"We don't have to wait for the Illinois Legislature or the federal government to create more

openness, transparency and accountability in city government," Gery Chico said. "Let's do it now,

let's do it ourselves and let's give our Inspector General the necessary tools to make government

better at all levels."

mailto:gchico@chiconunes.commailto:gery@gerychicoformayor.comhttp://friendsoftimbagwell.blogspot.com/2010/11/chicago-mayoral-candidate-gery-chico.htmlhttp://www.scribd.com/doc/42101126/Sunny-Chico-My-husband-Gery-was-instrumental-in-bringing-Save-A-Life-into-the-Chicago-Schoolshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wc1g5HuJ9Wohttp://friendsoftimbagwell.blogspot.com/2010/12/educator-carlos-azcoitia-former.htmlhttp://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news&id=4770490http://salf_exposed.verwalten.ch/SALF_media-reports_gen.htmlhttp://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wsiu/news.newsmain/article/0/0/1706987/Local.WSIU/The.State.Investigates.the.Save-A-Life.Foundationhttp://friendsoftimbagwell.blogspot.com/2010/12/hhs-inspector-general-cdc-deputy.htmlhttp://friendsoftimbagwell.blogspot.com/2010/12/hhs-inspector-general-cdc-deputy.htmlhttp://friendsoftimbagwell.blogspot.com/2010/12/hhs-inspector-general-cdc-deputy.htmlhttp://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2010/nov/17/city-light-save-a-life-money/http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2010/nov/17/city-light-save-a-life-money/http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&tbs=nws%3A1&q=http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2010/12/gery_chico_chicago_mayoral_hop.htmlhttp://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2010/12/gery_chico_chicago_mayoral_hop.htmlhttp://www.google.com/search?hl=en&tbs=nws%3A1&q=http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2010/nov/17/city-light-save-a-life-money/http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2010/nov/17/city-light-save-a-life-money/http://friendsoftimbagwell.blogspot.com/2010/12/hhs-inspector-general-cdc-deputy.htmlhttp://friendsoftimbagwell.blogspot.com/2010/12/hhs-inspector-general-cdc-deputy.htmlhttp://friendsoftimbagwell.blogspot.com/2010/12/hhs-inspector-general-cdc-deputy.htmlhttp://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wsiu/news.newsmain/article/0/0/1706987/Local.WSIU/The.State.Investigates.the.Save-A-Life.Foundationhttp://salf_exposed.verwalten.ch/SALF_media-reports_gen.htmlhttp://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news&id=4770490http://friendsoftimbagwell.blogspot.com/2010/12/educator-carlos-azcoitia-former.htmlhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wc1g5HuJ9Wohttp://www.scribd.com/doc/42101126/Sunny-Chico-My-husband-Gery-was-instrumental-in-bringing-Save-A-Life-into-the-Chicago-Schoolshttp://friendsoftimbagwell.blogspot.com/2010/11/chicago-mayoral-candidate-gery-chico.htmlmailto:gery@gerychicoformayor.commailto:gchico@chiconunes.com

8/8/2019 Lee's 12/13/10 follow-up to Gery Chico re: the Save-A-Life Foundation investigations - NO REPLY

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In that spirit, Im re-submitting my three questions.

1. Have you or has anyone you know been contacted by anyone connected with the AttorneyGenerals investigation of the Save-A-Life Foundation? If so, please provide details.

2. In federal reports, Save-A-Life claimed it had used a portion of$3.33 million it received fromthe US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention to train thousands of Chicago Public Schools

(CPS) students. However, in response to a federal subpoena and FOIA requests, CPS apparentlyhas no supporting records. Do you recommend that the Inspector General of the Department ofHealth & Human Services initiate an investigation to determine if those federal millions wereproperly administered?

3. CPS paid Save-A-Life approximately $62,000 in public funds to provide first aid training tothousands of students, however CPS records indicate that at best a few hundred may havereceived training. Do you recommend that CPS Inspector General James M. Sullivan initiate aninvestigation to determine if the $62,000 paid by CPS to Save-A-Life was properly administered?

Please feel free to add additional related comments of any length.

Im copying your media representative Brooke Anderson on this e-mail as I did on my November 30letter. If I dont receive a response from you or Ms. Anderson in the next few days, my understanding

will be that you dont intend to respond.

Thanks for your continued attention and I hope to hear from you and/or Ms. Anderson.

Sincerely,

Lee Cary

Writer, Andrew Breitbart'sBig Government, theAmerican Thinker

Little Elm, TX

Cc:

Brooke Anderson, Gery Chico for Mayor

Tim Bagwell PhD

Chuck Goudie/WLS-TV

Don Bauder/San DiegoReader

Lynn Sweet/Chicago Sun-Times

http://www.scribd.com/doc/35887998/Grant-spending-reports-submitted-by-the-Save-A-Life-Foundation-to-the-CDC-2004-07?in_collection=2346177http://taggs.hhs.gov/RecipInfo.CFM?SelEin=LCYqSyk%2FXC5KQTxLW1FaOEsKhttp://taggs.hhs.gov/RecipInfo.CFM?SelEin=LCYqSyk%2FXC5KQTxLW1FaOEsKhttp://www.scribd.com/doc/42013544/Chicago-Public-Schools-complete-records-for-the-Save-A-Life-Foundation-22-skimpy-invoices-from-1999-2007http://www.scribd.com/doc/42013544/Chicago-Public-Schools-complete-records-for-the-Save-A-Life-Foundation-22-skimpy-invoices-from-1999-2007http://taggs.hhs.gov/RecipInfo.CFM?SelEin=LCYqSyk%2FXC5KQTxLW1FaOEsKhttp://taggs.hhs.gov/RecipInfo.CFM?SelEin=LCYqSyk%2FXC5KQTxLW1FaOEsKhttp://www.scribd.com/doc/35887998/Grant-spending-reports-submitted-by-the-Save-A-Life-Foundation-to-the-CDC-2004-07?in_collection=2346177