by Kate Piercy Back in July, Gov. Quinn made an amendatory veto to HB5154, which called for the exemption of all public employee performance evaluations under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The Illinois Policy Institute argued against this bill, saying it would threaten transparency in government by prohibiting the release of public employee performance reviews...

by Lee Williams Download a formatted version of this report, complete with a table of the Pittman-Robertson Act contracts awarded by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, here. SPRINGFIELD, IL.—The Illinois Department of Natural Resources is misappropriating millions of dollars that should have been earmarked for the state’s sportsmen. The Pittman-Robertson Act, an 11-percent federal tax on...

With Cook County being known nationwide for its levels of corruption you know it’s bad when Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez says that a case of corruption by Hanover Township’s former welfare services director, Aurea Picasso, “may be a new low in Cook County corruption.” “Assistant State’s Attorney Bill Conway said that as welfare...

by Kate Piercy Do you know how much you’re paying for lobbyists? Sunshine Review has released a paper about taxpayer-funded lobbying in Illinois, reporting information about lobbying contracts and membership in taxpayer-funded lobbying associations. Taxpayer-funded lobbying associations are groups funded at least in part by public dollars that lobby for the collective interests of government bodies. ...

by Kate Piercy The Illinois Policy Institute sent a Freedom of Information Request into the state asking for state employee salary information, and it came back with some puzzling data: Illinois taxpayers gave former governor Rod Blagojevich $28,880.07 in 2009. His “monthly salary” was $14,784.33, so it appears he received two months of pay in...

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...

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 Brian Costin An 6-month follow up audit of the Schaumburg Township area in Northwestern Cook County revealed that still only 4 of 18 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...

by Brian Costin An audit of the New Trier Township area in northern Cook County revealed only 4 of 25 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...