With unpaid bills exceeding $8 billion, long-term debt surpassing $200 billion and the worst credit rating in the nation, revelations that the “broke” state of Illinois spent $670,000 on copper-plated doors and another$500,000 for chandeliers and sculptures for the Capitol in Springfield is an embarrassment for the entire state. Earning bad press and the scorn of angry taxpayers still reeling from the 2011 income...

Former Illinois gubernatorial candidate Adam Andrzejewski and his group, For the Good of Illinois, has created an app called “Open the Books”, which can be used to search 12 years of federal spending from their mobile phone. Quite the accomplishment. As Andrzejewski wrote in an editorial piece published in The Wall Street Journal: “If you...

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...

CHICAGO (Aug. 1, 2012) – In the latest round of online transparency audits conducted by the Illinois Policy Institute, only 13 of 22 local government agencies in the York Township-area in DuPage County received passing grades. In an effort to fight corruption and encourage public participation in government, the Illinois Policy Institute grades governments on...

Feb. 10, 2011 — The Downers Grove Park District and villages of Downers Grove and Willowbrook scored the highest of 16 public agencies recently evaluated in a government transparency audit. The audit was part of the Illinois Policy Institute’s Local Transparency Project and initiated by a local resident. Governments were graded on the availability of information to...

Illinois Policy Institute's Brian Costin is quoted in a story on local transparency.

The Downers Grove Park District and villages of Downers Grove and Willowbrook scored the highest of 16 public agencies recently evaluated in a government transparency audit. The audit was part of the Illinois Policy Institute’s Local Transparency Project.