An article printed in the Sept. 8 issue of Windy City Times starts with "A local LGBT-rights organization has come under fire once again from critics who allege that the group's executive director, Marc Loveless, produced a slew of faulty invoices to show to state authorities who reimbursed the organization for more than $30,000 in spending on what was supposed to be HIV/AIDS-related prevention activities, in-house salaries and other measures related to the group's mission."
Please allow me to take this time to back up this statement and further ad to it by saying Marc Loveless was terminated and removed from the board of directors June 25 for the reasons mentioned above, as well as a host of others. Furthermore, after reviewing Loveless' invoicing practices and spending patterns, we were prompted to call authorities and report these issues.
On June 25, Loveless was arrested at our South Side office for battery against me after being notified of his termination. This seemed to do much of nothing as he was released from jail and immediately attempted to change Coalition for Justice and Respect's ( CJR's ) board of directors; he also filed a false annual report the proceeding day in an attempt to say that myself and Billy Davis have no power whatsoever to terminate.
We are aware that Loveless is still listed as the resident agent for the company. But this is only because of his attempt to falsify our annual report as he attempted to do so with a check to the secretary of state on a closed bank account. We now need to rectify before any other further company information can be updated.
It saddens me that we are still going through this as we have attempted contacting the states attorney's office and Chicago Police Department with no luck there in any way. It was not until contacting a law firm that we were steered in the direction of the attorney general's office.
CJR, in connection with the Put Illinois Back to Work Program, has been located at 1525 E. 55th, and has been there since May 2009. Yet, Loveless is still informing people that he is in charge and that he is handling these matters. Actually, he has handled CJR business for his personal gain for some time now and—after being confronted, questioned and accused of the actions stated in previous articles concerning his wrongdoing—still continues to collect funds for CJR and has not paid anything.
I would personally like to apologize for allowing this situation to grow to the point it has. I would also like to state that I am committed to seeing Loveless brought to justice. He has supplied letters stating the board has given him full rights to the day to day functions and operations to CJR business.
We have changed our company website to www.fcjrchicago.org in an attempt to keep the public informed, and will be starting a blog on it by week's end. We will also be hold an open house Sept. 24 and would like to invite the entire community. Loveless started CJR, making our company's motto "Doing nothing is not an option." I will make sure that motto is not lost in this matter, either. The entire community has my word on this.
Sincerely,
John V Hickman, Jr.
CJR & FCJR Board President
The CJR situation, part II
Dear Editor:
In response to the recent egregious article in the Sept. 8 issue of Windy City Times let me first and foremost state that all of the expenditures attributed to each and every contract of the Coalition for Justice and Respect is accurate and not fraudulent in any way.
As for statements about people who claim that they were to be paid and weren't, they were paid not by check but by cash, and they signed a receipt at the time they were paid. Copies of those funds received were submitted to the reporting agencies.
If there are questions I have been more than willing to respond. The main thing is that at the end of each year ( for three years ) we had to submit reports of work accomplished, and we met those obligations and received audited approvals. I don't know where this recent attack is coming from, but I wish the criticism was done with some sense of organizational operations and not wild accusations.
Sincerely,
Marc Loveless
Executive Director
Coalition for Justice and Respect
