It’s time to throw a TIF!
Kate has a great new paper out today on TIFs (tax increment financing districts), and how they’re desperately in need of transparency. Check it out here, and let us know what you think. A good summary–our…
Blago’s Arrest — Need More Convincing for Transparency?
In case there weren’t enough alarms ringing already, the arrest of Governor Blagojevich and his Chief of Staff John Harris sounds another (HUGE) alarm for Illinois to implement transparency.
Will this be the tipping point?
Will our elected officials take…
Illinois Government Needs An X-Ray Machine
Imagine you’re about to have heart surgery. Would you want your doctor operating on your heart in the dark? Or without looking at your x-ray first? Without an x-ray, he wouldn’t know where to operate, the severity of your sickness…
“Who’s Posting?” list updated
We’ve updated our “Who’s Posting Expenditures in Illinois?” list today to include the Highland Park D133 school district and the Naperville Park District. View all of the government entities that are posting their check registers online here. Also,
…
“Who’s Posting?” list updated
We’ve updated our “Who’s Posting Expenditures In Illinois?” to include Coal City Community Unit School D1. We have also included links to the relevant pages on all entities that are already online. Those entities that have voted but are not…
The Right to Know…Or Not?
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) was a great step forward for citizens as they sought to learn about the behavior of their government and hold it to account. FOIA allows people to request certain types of information from government…
“Who’s Posting?” list updated
We’ve updated our “Who’s Posting Expenditures In Illinois?” to include Oswego Community Unit School D308 and Proviso Township High School D209. Check out the full list here.
An Open Letter on Transparency by Kate Campaigne
I wrote this letter in the beginning of August 2008 to all public school districts in Illinois after discovering a new Illinois School Code (105ILCS5/10-20.40) requiring school districts to post all contracts over $25,000 on their websites. I wanted to…
Sign our transparency pledge
The Illinois Policy Institute invites all elected officials to sign our transparency pledge, which affirms a basic commitment to transparency in government.
