Republican congressional candidate Chris Lauzen (IL-14) just unloaded a sizable portion of his campaign treasury by announcing yesterday he was returning money from the radioactive business consulting firm International Profit Associates, based in suburban Buffalo Grove.

The contributor in question is John Burgess, owner of International Profit Associates, a management-consulting firm in Buffalo Grove. The company has had a string of problems dating back to the 1980s, and federal authorities are currently pursuing a sexual-harassment lawsuit against the company on behalf of more than 100 employees.

Officials from the Illinois attorney general’s office confirmed the company is under investigation. According to the Better Business Bureau, IPA has received more than 400 complaints since 2003 and has a rating of “unsatisfactory.”

Burgess has run afoul of the law himself. In the 1980s, he was convicted of attempted larceny and patronizing a 16-year-old prostitute, according to published reports.

Some background on IPA’s problems with sex, fraud and politics can be found here and here.

The question now is: Will Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who has been investigating IPA for more than four years, return the money she took from IPA? Hillary Clinton?

Lauzen is just the latest politician to return money donated by Burgess and IPA. The list includes Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle and New York State Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo.

If you are a politician and you are keeping money that even Blagojevich returned, what exactly are you thinking?

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