The New Media Journal | One of Obama's Closest Friends Part of Federal Probe

The New Media Journal | One of Obama's Closest Friends Part of Federal Probe

E-mails and other records of Dr. Eric Whitaker -- one of President Obama's best friends -- have been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.

The investigation involves "faith-based initiatives" and health-awareness campaigns funded by the Illinois Department of Public Health when Whitaker ran the agency for former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, according to copies of subpoenas obtained under the state's Freedom of Information Act.

Obama has said he recommended Whitaker for that job, which Whitaker landed in April 2003. The president's friend resigned in October 2007 to join Obama's wife, Michelle, as an executive at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

On Friday, Whitaker defended his work as the state's former top health official, saying he developed "new methods" to help "African-American and other minority communities" get better medical care...

All told, Gov. Quinn's administration turned over copies of six subpoenas sent to four state agencies that show authorities have been seeking information about a variety of health-awareness grants and programs that have cost taxpayers millions of dollars.

One sent to the health department seeks "any and all records" involving "faith-based initiatives" on subjects including "emergency preparedness," "HIV/AIDS," "cervical/breast cancer" and "pandemic flu."...

Whitaker and his former chief of staff, Quin Golden, are named in a Nov. 23, 2009, subpoena in which authorities asked state officials to produce their "e-mail and other electronic storage accounts" from "January 2007 to present."

Nothing in the subpoenas suggests Whitaker or Golden are targets of the investigation, and a spokesman for the two said they have not been subpoenaed personally or questioned by authorities. Like Whitaker, Golden left her state job to work for the University of Chicago.

Five of the subpoenas seek details about the Let's Talk, Let's Test Foundation, an AIDS-awareness group that the Sun-Times revealed last September was the subject of a federal criminal probe. In an interview for that story, Whitaker acknowledged he had reservations about awarding state money to that foundation, which state officials have since alleged improperly spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on staff bonuses, football tickets and other items.