It’s time to hold Illinois lawmakers accountable

By Donovan Griffith

07/05/2014

Illinois Policy Action is launching a campaign to hold Illinois legislators accountable to their promise of letting the 2011 income tax hike sunset on schedule. In the spring legislative session, politicians strongly stated their opposition to extending this massive income tax increase on Illinois families. Now, Illinois Policy Action will be asking legislators to sign...

Chart of the Week: What ObamaCare grant paid state’s Democrat insiders

By Naomi Lopez Bauman

06/18/2014

If you have any doubt that political cronyism isn’t alive and well in Illinois, look no further than an ObamaCare scandal that broke late last week. Investigations by the Associated Press and Crain’s found that a subcontractor to a $33 million ObamaCare grant was billing at $282 per hour. Turns out the subcontractor is owned...

TAGS: cronyism, Lisa Madigan, Mike Madigan, Pat Quinn, Richard Daley

Political insiders receive multi-million-dollar contract to promote ObamaCare in Illinois

By Naomi Lopez Bauman

06/13/2014

Get Covered Illinois has been hit by two scandals in as many days. A recent Associated Press (AP) investigation into a $33 million federal grant to promote ObamaCare in Illinois revealed that “More than 90 people, including executives from the firm and its subcontractors, billed at least $270 an hour for salary and overhead during...

State Rep. Derrick Smith, D-Chicago, convicted of taking $7,000 bribe

By Brian Costin

06/10/2014

A federal jury has found state Rep. Derrick Smith, D-Chicago, guilty of taking a $7,000 cash bribe in exchange for writing a state grant recommendation letter in 2012. Under state law, Smith automatically loses his office with the felony bribery conviction. This is the second time Smith has lost his office. Smith was originally expelled from...

TAGS: bribery, Chicago, corruption, Derrick Smith, ILGA: Illinois General Assembly

Illinois Corruption Watch, May 2014

By Brian Costin

06/04/2014

In completing our second month of the new “Illinois Corruption Watch” project, we are shocked at the volume of corruption stories being reported across the state. In just two months we have found reports of 101 different corruption-related stories; 45 in April and 56 in May. It’s no wonder Illinois citizens have by far the...

Promises and politics: Lawmakers consider whether to make the temporary income tax hike permanent

By Donovan Griffith

05/24/2014

In 2011, Illinois lawmakers passed the largest income tax increase in the state’s history with the promise that the increase would sunset in 2015 and income tax rates would return to their previous rates. In other words, the income tax increase was made to be temporary. Today, on the cusp of the income tax increase...

Madigan’s millionaire tax returns

By Naomi Lopez Bauman

05/22/2014

House Speaker Mike Madigan couldn’t get a progressive tax hike on the November ballot. His next effort, to get an extension of the tax hike, has failed so far. Now, he is back with yet another money-grab scheme. Madigan has proposed an advisory referendum on the fall ballot proposing a millionaire surcharge. (An advisory referendum...

TAGS: millionaire tax

Illinois politicians’ obsession with tax hikes

05/21/2014

Fifty percent of all Illinoisans would leave the state if they could. Twenty-five percent think it’s the worst state to live in. Another 72 percent don’t trust their government. These numbers came from three recent Gallup polls. In all three surveys, no state polled worse than Illinois. You’d think with results like that, the last...

Madigan and Illinois’ million-man migration

By Michael Lucci

05/21/2014

Gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner publicly opposes the tax-hike plan championed by Gov. Pat Quinn and House Speaker Mike Madigan. Rauner claimed that raising income taxes again in 2015 will cause more businesses and people to flee the state. Madigan fired back at Rauner with one of the most poorly-conceived statements of this campaign season. Madigan...

Courts can strike down Madigan’s unconstitutional budget

05/19/2014

The Illinois Constitution is clear: the Illinois General Assembly’s spending in any fiscal year “shall not exceed the funds estimated by the General Assembly to be available during that year.” The General Assembly has officially estimated how much money the state will have available in fiscal year 2015: about $34 billion. Yet the spending proposed...

Michael Madigan

It’s time to hold Illinois lawmakers accountable

Chart of the Week: What ObamaCare grant paid state’s Democrat insiders

Political insiders receive multi-million-dollar contract to promote ObamaCare in Illinois

State Rep. Derrick Smith, D-Chicago, convicted of taking $7,000 bribe

Illinois Corruption Watch, May 2014

Promises and politics: Lawmakers consider whether to make the temporary income tax hike permanent

Madigan’s millionaire tax returns

Illinois politicians’ obsession with tax hikes

Madigan and Illinois’ million-man migration

Courts can strike down Madigan’s unconstitutional budget

4 ways to break out of Illinois’ pension trap

Report Archive

Diana Graham

Process for unionizing non-state workers raises red flags

CBS Chicago: Illinois’ highest-paid superintendent receives $400K per year to oversee 1,200 students