Friday, March 22, 2013
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…
Sunday, February 24, 2013
State Representatives Ron Sandack (R-Downers Grove) and Tom Cross (R-Oswego) have introduced three pieces of legislation that would require local governments to be more transparent and accountable to tax payers.
Two local legislators are introducing legislation that would require more transparency from local governments and taxing bodies. Last week, State Representatives Ron Sandack (R-Downers Grove) and Tom Cross (R-Oswego) introduced three initiatives with the goal of greater transparency and state and local government accountability to tax payers. “With all the well-documented fiscal problems Illinois faces, there are some easy things we can do to increase government transparency and save taxpayer money,” Sandack said in a news release. The goal of the legislation is to provide every property taxpayer with an annual itemized breakdown of the spending outlays they are billed for to support units of local government; including school districts, …
Sunday, August 5, 2012
As we start a new week, it's always good to get caught up on state politics. Here's an easy guide to what happened last week.
- GOVERNMENT
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Sunday, August 5, 2012
Editor's Note: This article was created by aggregating news articles from Illinois Watchdog, formerly Illinois Statehouse News. SPRINGFIELD – Gov. Pat Quinn increased transparency in one part of state government this week, but his own office failed to release emails that could shine light on his handling of public discourse about prison closures. Prepaid tuition fund to become more transparent Illinois families who invested in the state’s troubled prepaid tuition program will enjoy more transparency in the system because of legislation signed into law Wednesday. The bill, House Bill 3923, requires meetings about the state’s prepaid tuition fund, known as College Illinois!, to be open to the public under the state’s Open Meetings Act. The …
Friday, August 3, 2012
Illinois Policy Institute conduct audit of Downers Grove and other governments.
The Village of Downers Grove, Downers Grove Grade School District 58 and Community High School District 99 were among 13 of 22 area governments and organizations to receive passing grades in an online transparency audit conducted by the Illinois Policy Institute. In an effort to fight corruption and encourage public participation in government, the Illinois Policy Institute grades governments on how much public data is readily available on public websites. Dubbed “The Local Transparency Project,” the grades are based on the availability to the public of vital community information such as public meeting schedules, government employee salaries and tax rates. Since the project was launched by the Institute in February 2010, more than 160 …
Tony Lopes
2:09 am on Sunday, March 24, 2013
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