According to Cook County, its Open County Initiative website “provides easy access to areas of information, records and data transparency throughout the county and “additional information will be included as it is made available online.”

Check it out and see what you think.

Although state law requires Quinn to give his address next Wednesday, he has asked for more time. Yet, House and Senate members can’t seem to agree on “how far to push the speech back – either earlier or later in March,” reports Keith.

Quinn prefers to give his budget address on March 10 and sent a letter to lawmakers Tuesday saying “he’ll put information online for lawmaker and public perusal to set up the next year’s budget” and the site “will include a detailed look at revenues and spending for the current budget year and estimated revenues and spending obligations for the next budget year.”

Will we get to see such budget transparency?

Quinn claims he “will solicit public comments at his budget office’s Web site — http://budget.Illinois.gov — and use feedback to shape his budget plans presented two weeks later,” and wrote “A budget that reflects input from the people of Illinois will be a better budget for the people of Illinois.”

Will this be another step in the direction of transparency for the state of Illinois? Who will provide feedback and who will the state listen to?

Liberty Leaders, take note.



Taxpayers have no idea how this money is being spent, but they have every right to know who received what loans, how much, why, and for what collateral, as Matthew Winkler notes in today’s Wall Street Journal.

Apparently, the Fed doesn’t think taxpayers have any business asking for this information, and “went to court to resist giving an accounting of its actions under the Freedom of Information Act. The request was filed by Bloomberg News through its parent, Bloomberg LP.”

According to Winkler, “The issue at stake here is understanding the financial crisis and its aftermath. The information Bloomberg is seeking is vital to that, and it belongs to all Americans. Bloomberg isn’t alone in saying so. Dow Jones, the New York Times, the Associated Press, Gannett Newspapers, Hearst, Advance Publications, and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press have all expressed support for Bloomberg’s efforts and may join a friend-of-the-court brief if the decision is appealed.”

Transparency provides the tool to measure the effectiveness of money, and right now, taxpayers have absolutely transparency from the Fed. The Fed has failed to explain where all the taxpayers’ money has gone or provide any metrics to help determine whether the bailouts have worked well, poorly, or not at all. Without transparency, there’s no accountability.

Winkler suggests this is a prime occasion for Obama to keep his word on transparency — because “So far, there has been far too little accountability at the Fed for how it used taxpayer money to save banks that failed their shareholders and creditors by making bets that didn’t pay off.”

Fiscal irresponsibility got us into the financial downturn. It’s past time for creating a system to measure government spending and its results, and instill some accountability in those spending taxpayers’ hard earned money.

This would also be very useful to answer questions we all have: “Where is all my money going?” “Why is Quinn threatening to make huge cuts?” “Do they really need to raise taxes?”

But a “supernatural” power really isn’t needed to answer these questions. What is needed is government transparency.

Government transparency would help lawmakers and citizens see that Illinois doesn’t need more money—it needs less spending.  The state of Illinois needs to think about some serious cuts in spending before it even hints at possibly raising taxes.  If every state legislator was handed a list of the wasteful spending done by this state, they would see that there is a huge amount of money being thrown away each year and maybe think twice before passing a budget that doesn’t propose any proper cuts in spending and better allocation of funds.

Since “supernatural” powers aren’t readily available, let’s hope that Illinois policy makers use their prudent judgment when they go to vote on a new budget.

In Illinois’s case, this unchecked spending manifests itself as $2 million for 3D education technology, $1.5 million for methamphetamine awareness programs, $151,000 for state fair livestock awards, and a host of other items.  These and many other examples of careless spending can be found in the Illinois Policy Institute’s analysis of pork in the 2010 budget.

Unchecked spending has a snowball effect.  Once legislators realize they can get away with “incidental” and “discretionary” expenses here and there, more careless spending will naturally follow. Federal expense statements are only published in print and not online  HB 35 is one small yet important step to prevent the financial abuse that is going on in Washington from spreading to Springfield. 

Stay tuned here at OpenIllinois.org for the status of HB 35 and other steps towards Illinois transparency.

Blagojevich also wants the federal government to put Illinois on the list of states seeking relief under any kind of economic stimulus package. Specifically, the governor wants more than $1 billion annually from Washington over the next three years.

So what is the punishment for a state functioning beyond its means for years?  Oh right…this is the era of the bailout.  No punishment…just federal funds to prop up a government that has been spending recklessly for years on end.

Love it.  And there’s more!

“Illinois’ finances, like many other states across the nation, have felt consequences of the poor national economy,” he said. “And like a family who has seen their income cut dramatically, we need to take fiscally responsible action to ensure the state can pay all of our bills and provide the core services that Illinoisans need.”

Oh Blago… what are you saying?

Here’s a thought… why doesn’t Illinois become FULLY TRANSPARENT?  This would be (as Kate, our director of transparency policy, is always saying) like an Xray machine–which would allow the taxpayers, and even policy makers, to look into Illinois’s books, and diagnose the problem.  The problem, of course, would be areas of wasteful spending.  Check out the 2008 Illinois Piglet Book for more on that.

I just do not believe the state has done everything it can to eliminate wasteful spending.  If we did cut it out…maybe we could actually pay our bills for these core services that the Governor believes we need federal funds to provide.

Last thought: This doesn’t make sense on so many fronts.  One of them being that regardless of who pays for government services in Illinois (federal or state government), there isn’t just some bottomless fund out there to draw from.  The taxpayers will pay. Why should the whole nation go farther into debt for the services of one state? The STATE needs to get its books in order.  This is ridiculous. Transparency is necessary. There is no viable reason not to implement it.

We need to know exactly what is happening with our money that is going to require more federal aid.

“The health board’s proposed 2009 budget, presented this morning, includes a $103 million spending increase. Of that, $47 million would be spent to pay for both salary increases already approved by the County Board and increased costs caused by inflation, said Warren Batts, chairman of the Health and Hospitals System Board.

But the board also wants to hire 415 new employees, which County Board President Todd Stroger later said he did not anticipate.”

Earlier Kate blogged about Cook County’s total lack of transparency in making this proposed budget available for the taxpayers before it was voted on so that concerned citizens could voice their opinions.

Batts has suggested that the new revenue generated from sales tax increases could be used to fund these budget increases.

But don’t get too attached to the proposed budget–which, via Hal’s comments, I’m guessing is available at least via FOIA, but I have yet to see posted online.   Apparently a lot can change with the input of the Cook Co. Board, and its president, Todd Stroger.

I would like to know what exactly these 415 new jobs will be.  Where’s the info?  Hopefully the situation won’t be like this.

Please comment and post a link, if you find one, to this proposed budget.

Transparency hasn’t really been Cook County’s “thing” in this matter…