Only 28 percent of Illinois residents trust their state government, the lowest rate in the country by far. Since the days of Al Capone, the words “Illinois” and “Chicago” have been synonymous with government corruption. In order to change the narrative and restore trust in our state and local government we must fight public corruption head...

Fourteen Illinois counties face higher sales taxes if referendums pass at the ballot box this fall. The tax is called the Illinois County School Facility Occupation Tax, or County School Facility Tax (CSFT) for short. The law authorizing the tax, which passed in 2007, allows school boards representing 51 percent of a county’s student population...

The bad news keeps piling up for Illinoisans. Illinois Policy’s “corruption watch” blog series hit a new high in the month of July with nearly 100 corruption-related stories. Chicago and Springfield are the two cities most synonymous with the state’s corruption woes. Unsurprisingly, both cities dominated headlines with the top two corruption stories of the...

Unfortunately for taxpayers, June was a groundbreaking month for corruption in Illinois. In June alone, there were reports of 85 corruption-related stories in the state. Some of the record-breaking highlights include the following: For the first time in 33 years, the Illinois Legislative Audit Commission exercised its subpoena powers in the issuance of a subpoena...

The Problem Taxpayers deserve to know information about the governments they fund. Illinois has thousands of units of local government, but key information about most of them is not readily available to average citizens. Technology has created an unprecedented opportunity for governments of all sizes to make information publicly available at no incremental cost. While...

Taxpayers deserve to know information about the governments they fund. Illinois has thousands of units of local government, but key information about most of them is not readily available to average citizens.

The Problem Blago, Ryan, Walker—Illinois has a sorry history of crooked governors. Currently, the Illinois General Assembly has a monopoly on the gubernatorial removal process by way of impeachment proceedings. Citizen-initiated recall is one way to vest citizens with the ability to remove corrupt or poorly performing elected officials from office. Unfortunately, the Governor Recall...