Riding Away on the Taxpayer Train

by Katherine Casey Taxpayer-funded state lobbying is once again on the rise in Illinois. As the Illinois Policy Institute noted earlier this year in its 2011-2012 Illinois Legislators’ Guide to the Issues, a lack of transparency still plagues the topic of lobbying across the state. Unknown to many citizens, “state-level lobbying” has quickly seeped its way into towns and...

by Katherine Casey

Taxpayer-funded state lobbying is once again on the rise in Illinois. As the Illinois Policy Institute noted earlier this year in its 2011-2012 Illinois Legislators’ Guide to the Issues, a lack of transparency still plagues the topic of lobbying across the state. Unknown to many citizens, “state-level lobbying” has quickly seeped its way into towns and cities across Illinois. One of the biggest proponents of such lobbying is the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA), which holds jurisdiction over Metra, the CTA, and Pace. In an economic climate that is less than favorable for families and businesses due to high taxation, the people of Illinois are left wondering where the trail of tax dollars leads. As the Legislators’ Guideexplains, one can look no further than contract lobbyists, association dues, and travel expenses.

An article released by the Chicago Sun-Times last week citing a report done by the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform states that lobbying from various government contracts across the state increased by $900,000 in 2010. The total amount of taxpayer funds spent on lobbying by “local government and public bodies” across the state totals approximately $7,500,000. More notably, the RTA spent approximately $1,000,000 on lobbying in 2010 alone. It is clear that towns and cities have a duty to increase transparency for the benefit of its own taxpaying citizens, but inconspicuous spending by public transportation agencies hits the pocketbooks of those who cannot afford even a slight cost of service increase. This money would better serve the taxpayer if it was used for its intended purpose- improving public transportation services.

While the RTA is spending more on lobbying than ever before, the Metra board is contemplating a rate hike among a few other solutions in an attempt to make up for a budget shortfall. The Metra shortfall is estimated to be approximately $56,500,000 in 2012 alone. According to an article in the Daily Heraldreleased last week, the Metra board is set to meet this month to discuss possible solutions to close the shortfall. Federal grant support and a reliance on capital funding (Metra’s savings for rail equipment) has pushed off such meetings, but increased fuel costs and “disappointing sales tax revenues” have pushed the shortfall to the forefront. Jack Schaffer, a Metra director, proposed obtaining feedback from customers:  “I suggest we put the options out and ask their [riders’] opinions. We’ve reached a point in the electronic age where we could get a good look at what our riders want.”

For the sake of both Metra riders across Illinois and Metra’s own bottom line, Mr. Schaffer needs to include a check box for the elimination of unnecessary lobbying funds on the rider polling survey. It is difficult for public transportation riders across Chicagoland to sympathize with the need for a taxpayer-subsidized service to have such a large and expensive presence in Springfield while families across the state are making much larger sacrifices. Even though the monetary figures given in the report are a small portion of the deficits held by all of the transportation services, transparency and honesty are the first tools that should be utilized to gain the trust back from riders who are often disgusted by the corruption and scandal that surround many of the RTA subsidiaries.