Local governments must maintain certain financial records, but not all make it easy for taxpayers to obtain it. A bill headed to the Illinois House floor would put local government financial records online.
Through collective bargaining agreements with the state, government-worker unions require access to workers’ social security numbers – even if those workers are not members of the union. A bill protecting worker privacy recently failed to get enough votes to pass out of committee.
Government unions posed threats to public welfare that were recognized by founders of the labor movement and by progressive icon Franklin D. Roosevelt. Those threats have become reality, with government union power dominating – especially in Illinois.