The Open Meetings Act is quite clear as to what a public meeting is. “Meeting” means any gathering, whether in person or by video or audio conference, telephone call, electronic means (such as, without limitation, electronic mail, electronic chat, and instant messaging), or other means of contemporaneous interactive communication, of a majority of a quorum...
By Brian Costin
08/05/2013
Mercer County Treasurer Mike Bertelsen has been charged with stealing $13,000 from a county 911 fund. As reported by a local NBC affiliate: The County Treasurer in Mercer County, Illinois has been arrested. Michael Bertelsen, 53, faces a charge of felony theft. On the afternoon of July 31st, the Mercer County Sheriff made the arrest and...
by Brian Costin Illinois is notorious for government corruption. Since 1976, the state has had the third-highest amount of public corruption convictions in the country — including four out of the last seven governors. Outside of Springfield, things aren’t much better. Chicago has been called “the most corrupt city in America.” A report by the University of Illinois-Chicago and...
By Paul Kersey
07/11/2013
Responding to a Freedom of Information Act request from Americans for Limited Government, the Internal Revenue Service revealed that 200 of its “employees” actually work full time for the National Treasury Employees Union, or NTEU. The special union arrangement, known as “official time,” means that rather than working on investigating and collecting taxes, public workers whose...
By Brian Costin
06/27/2013
One of the best protections against corruption is transparency, and in today’s digital age one of the easiest ways for government to be open and accountable is through posting public documents on the Internet. Unfortunately, most Illinois counties need to dramatically improve when it comes to online transparency. The Illinois Policy Institute recently audited all...
by Brian Costin The Illinois Policy Institute has long been a supporter of strengthening the Open Meetings Act, or OMA, and Freedom Information Act, or FOIA. Unfortunately, OMA and FOIA often come under attack by the Illinois General Assembly. The most recent assault is in the concealed carry bill that recently passed the House and Senate, and awaits Gov....
by Paul Kersey In governments all across the country, there’s a need to open up collective bargaining to more public scrutiny. Union contracts in particular need to be released to the public before they are ratified. But even when you have the contract in hand, you don’t necessarily know everything you need to know. The dirty little...
As we try to evaluate the deal that Gov. Pat Quinn reached with state employees, we have plenty of reasons to be skeptical about Quinns claim that health care changes in the contract will save the state $900 million
By Brian Costin
03/14/2013
In January, I wrote about my ordeal in obtaining my local school district’s collective bargaining agreement. The public, including taxpayers like me, wasn’t allowed to examine the new teachers’ contract until 38 days after the contract was approved by the board. Once I finally got ahold of the contract I found out the teacher salary raises were...
By Brian Costin
03/04/2013
The 2013 legislative session is in full swing and there are a number of good government reform bills that have been introduced by legislators of both parties. While much of the focus in the media and at the Illinois Policy Institute is rightly on big-dollar issues such as pension and Medicaid reform, there are many other issues...
