This puzzle is one for the books

It may not be polite to look a gift horse in the mouth, butsometimes it's expedient. Take Secretary of State George H. Ryan'sannouncement Thursday that $435,000 finally had been found to, amongother things, replace a South Side public library's leaky roof.

Grateful as the staff of the Carter G. Woodson Regional Librarywas to achieve one of its goals so soon after taking its complaintspublic in February, there was something fishy about this.

First, there was the timing of the announcement, just a few daysbefore the Chicago elections, in which official neglect of Chicago'spredominantly black South Side had threatened to become an issue.As recently as two months ago, state and city officials said thatalthough they agreed with disgruntled staffers that a new roof wasneeded, there was no money for it.

Second, there was the sum, which Ryan, who also holds the titleof state librarian, said was "made possible by a one-timeappropriation to the state library from the Illinois Civic CenterBond Fund." It was "new money, absolutely," according to Ryanspokeswoman Kim St. Aubin. Funny, but $435,000 was the exact amountthat had been set aside by the state way back in 1989 for acompletely different project at Woodson, according to state Rep.Monique D. Davis (D-Chicago).

And that revived some old, lingering questions aboutexpenditures for carpets and other items that had never found theirway to Woodson, leading to staff suspicions that funds were beingsiphoned off for some North Side project.

Davis insisted the roof would be replaced with "old, unspentmoney from the proceeds of the state's computer software sales tax,"which she helped to push through, not money from the bond fund.Indeed, Chicago Library Commissioner John B. Duff agreed that she hadsaved the day by allowing a portion of that earlier, restricted grantto be spent for the roof, instead of for a new wing.

The original $435,000 had been set aside for preliminary costsassociated with expansion and preservation of the celebrated VivianG. Harsh Collection of Afro-American History and Literature atWoodson - a critical project that Davis says will have to be put offanyway because of current budget constraints.

But then, why had the secretary of state announced a new grantThursday?

"That question is better directed at him than at me," Duff said.

Indeed, library director Hattie Power had taken Ryan at his word,assuming that her understaffed library would be "getting close to amillion dollars" from two different state funds for badly neededrepairs, expansion and staff additions. "It would be nice to havesomething in writing," she sighed, "so I can respond to questionsfrom the staff and the community instead of just playing guesswork."

Ryan press secretary Mike Murphy finally admitted Monday thatthe boss' earlier announcement of an additional grant had been inerror. The state had reappropriated the original $435,000 "because,for whatever reason, it wasn't spent last year," he said.

But this looked like a "game played with taxpayers," from wherePower, who is still using buckets to catch the rainwater and can'tafford to fill 14 staff vacancies, sits. "I've been in situationswhere they tell you funds were lost to balance the books. The bottomline is, you never get what you requested. I'm thoroughly annoyed."

Carole Ashkinaze is a member of the Chicago Sun-Times editorialboard.