Brown Reacts to Political Petition Scandal

Cook County Board president candidate Dorothy Brown is speaking out for the first time about the petition scandal that has rocked her campaign.

“What is your reaction when you see these people on the Earnfare Program making these claims?” Fox Chicago News Asked Brown.

"Well it is appalling. It is absolutely appalling to me," Brown said.

On Tuesday a Fox Chicago News investigation found workers who said they were ordered to gather signatures on Brown's political petitions, while working at a state-funded job training program.

"That's our job description for every day, go out and do petitions," said one worker who wished to remain unidentified.

The workers said they were ordered to do the political work at a South side social service agency called "Mother's House." The agency was managed by Hassan Muhammad, a field director for Dorothy Brown's campaign.

When we confronted Muhammad about the accusations, he denied the Earnfare workers were being used for political work, and then pushed a Fox Chicago cameraman out of the office.

"Hassan Muhammad is no longer associated with my campaign. He worked with the field operations, but he's no longer associated with my campaign," said Brown.

Brown also said she had to terminate Muhammad and she didn’t condone what was going on nor did she had any knowledge of it.

The State Department of Human Services which administers the Earnfare Program is now investigating how taxpayers apparently wound up paying for political work.

Brown said she's not worried that thousands of signatures on her petitions may now be challenged.

"We had over 45,000 signatures. We have thousands of people out there campaigning for us, and we had 200 people who circulated for us, and so we're not concerned at all," Brown said.

45,000 is about twice the number needed to get on the ballot. Brown said she has known Muhammad for ten years.