Politics & Government

Sandack: Dixon Comptroller Embezzlement Highlights Need for Local Transparency

Spotlighting the Rita Crundwell incident, in which $53 million was embezzled from a city's coffers, the Downers Grove state representative is pushing for new transparency legislation.

Citing the Rida Crundwell case—in which a Dixon, Ill. comptroller embezzled about $53 million over 22 years from the city—State Rep. Ron Sandack (R-Downers Grove) is pushing for Illinois to pass his Taxpayer Accountability Transparency Act, which he says will help prevent further such abuses by opening local government to public scrutiny.

“While most news outlets focused on the accused’s extravagant lifestyle and lavish hobbies, the more concerning story to me was how did this happen and how do we protect taxpayers in the future,” Sandack writes in a post on Reboot Illinois.

“Transparency serves as a sort of disinfectant to graft, corruption and fraud. The more access the public has to information, the more responsible government will be.” 

Find out what's happening in Downers Grovewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The Act, for which Sandack is a co-sponsor, consists of three House bills—1555, 1556 and 1557

The first modifies the Illinois Transparency and Accountability Portal (ITAP) to include information on local governments and all other taxing bodies, levies and debts, including pension funds, grand funds, contracts, etc. 

Find out what's happening in Downers Grovewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The second makes it so that all bills that would no legislation to “increase or add new long term debt authorization or would require… the use of bond financed funds” can be past without a mandatory State Debt Impact Note.

The final bill creates an Illinois Review Board to study and evaluate local governments’ use of “taxing authority,” report their findings to the General Assembly and place them on ITAP for review.

“Now is the time to write a new story on how our state is providing our 13 million residents the tools to be vigilant watchdogs of the public trust,” Sandack writes in the post. 

Crundwell, the woman Sandack is highlighting as an example, was sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison in February, according to the Associated Press, and still faces 60 related theft charges.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

There are plenty of ways to keep up on Downers Grove news:


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here