by Amanda Griffin-Johnson A clout hiring scandal in Chicago’s Department of Transportation (CDOT) has led to a five-day, unpaid suspension for an engineering technician and the resignation of a Deputy Commissioner. The Chicago Sun-Times reports: Jim Bolster was slapped with the five-day suspension “for assisting” his boss, former Deputy Commissioner Gilberto Quinones, in Quinones’ quest to...
by Amanda Griffin-Johnson A state audit of a Cook County jobs training program is raising concerns about some of the program’s expenditures. The Chicago Tribune reports: Among an audit’s 68 findings were questions about whether youths who were paid more than $1 million were even qualified to be in the program, why $31,000 in pension payments...
The Problem How many hospitals does the Land of Lincoln need, and who gets to decide? In Illinois, the process is far more complicated than you might think—and, unfortunately, it also restricts access to health care for citizens across the state. In 1974, a federal law gave states incentives to create Certificate of Need (CON)...
by Will Compernolle The State of Illinois hired 33 locksmiths in calendar year 2008 for $1,786,125 in combined total wages. Of the 33 locksmiths, 2 were hired by the Department of Human Services, 30 were hired by the Department of Corrections, and 1 was hired by the Department of Juvenile Justice. The highest paid locksmith...
by Will Compernolle The State of Illinois hired 33 clinical psychologists in calendar year 2008 for $2,516,451 in combined total wages. Of the 33 clinical psychologists, 32 were hired by the Department of Human Services and 1 was hired by the Department of Corrections. The highest paid clinical psychologist took home a $94,456 salary while...
by Will Compernolle According to the Chicago Tribune, a new Congressional report called “Summertime Blues” shows stimulus funding has gone to buy iPods for high school students, cell phones for smokers trying to quit, and advertising for the stimulus itself. While the stimulus has been defended as an endeavor to spur job creation, no jobs were...
by Will Compernolle The State of Illinois hired 107 electricians in fiscal year 2008 for $7,370,091 in combined total wages. The average salary was $68,879 while the highest paid electrician made $110,251. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics website, the average salary for an electrician in Illinois for 2008 was $67,250. The Illinois Department of...
by Will Compernolle The Illinois Department of Human Services hired ten nutritionists in fiscal year 2008 for $543,117 in combined total wages. The average salary for a nutritionist was $54,311 while the highest paid nutritionist took home a $65,165 salary. The Bureau of Labor Statistics website shows the mean salary for a nutritionist in 2008 in Illinois was $51,070,...
by Kate Piercy 8,000 vacant desks, nearly 11 percent of the workstations in the city government’s 19 million square feet of office space. Nine separate agencies to handle vehicle maintenance, operating 125 separate maintenance garages, some across the street from each other. Each city agency with its own HR department, with an overall ratio of...
by Brian Costin Unlike criminal asset forfeiture, with civil forfeiture, a property owner need not be found guilty of a crime—or even charged—to permanently lose her cash, car, home or other property, a system which creates perverse incentives for law enforcement and jeopardizes a citizen’s property rights. The Institute for Justice recently released a 50-state report...
by Kate Piercy The News-Gazette sounded a warning today with regards to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), reacting to the efforts to weaken FOIA some have already attempted: The new Freedom of Information law was barely two weeks old when legislators amended it the first time in January, repealing a provision that made evaluations of public school...
The Problem Around this time each year, Illinois residents start making plans to attend the DuQuoin and Illinois State Fairs. But these state fairs are costing taxpayers much more than their ticket prices suggest. These two state fairs have a long record of their expenditures far outweighing their revenues. Between fiscal years 2001 and 2009,...
by Brian Costin An audit of the Hanover Township area in Northwestern Cook County revealed only 1 of 12 local government agencies graded received a passing grade on basic online transparency guidelines. The “Local Transparency Project”, a project of the non-partisan Illinois Policy Institute, consists of two separate transparency audits 6 weeks apart on 10 different online...
by Will Compernolle Cook County will now provide a searchable online database regarding lobbyists’ activities, according to the Daily Herald. The site, at cookcountyclerk.com, lists all 188 registered lobbyists in the county, what they’re lobbying about, who they’re contacting, and what they’re being paid. Cook County Clerk David Orr said the site makes the lobbying registration process...