A Chicago city worker terminated in 2017 exhibited a pattern of serious misconduct spanning nearly 20 years. But Illinois’ largest public sector union won him back his job.
From 2013 to 2016, Chicago Public Schools purchased more than $250,600 worth of gift cards, most of which were meant for students and families. But CPS employees stole some of them, according to the inspector general’s office.
The city’s police department has gone over budget for overtime every year for the past six years, costing Chicago taxpayers $575 million in spending for overtime pay.
Medicaid is one of Illinois government’s largest and fastest-growing expenses, accounting for more than 28 percent of the state’s total operating budget.1 It has also been a prime target of waste, fraud and abuse, earning a “high risk” designation from the U.S. Government Accountability Office.2 Most states, including Illinois, have focused fraud-prevention efforts on provider...
The residential-center horror stories demonstrate that corruption in government often hurts the most vulnerable among us. It also shows that exposing those injustices can lead to change.
Chicago’s $1.15 billion projected budget gap is the latest in a decades-long string of structural deficits. Making Chicago’s high taxes worse is not the solution.