by Aon Hussain With the world watching, the Republican controlled House and the Democrat controlled Senate and President came to an agreement on the debt ceiling that simultaneously raised the debt ceiling and ensured more than two trillion dollars in spending cuts. While this showdown was combative, another duel between Democrats and Republicans looms [...]
Orland Park Aims for Perfect Score in Transparency, Cut Costs
In a recent article in the Southtown Star, Orland Park’s Deputy Village Clerk Joe LaMargo confidently proclaimed “We would like to get the first 100 percent” from the institute. Ever since the Local Transparency Project was developed in early 2010, no government entity has had the distinction of garnering a perfect score. But that [...]
Bureau County Citizens Rally for Increased Transparency
Transparency goes hand in hand with keeping local government accountable to the citizens and taxpayers. As taxpayers, it’s our money and we should have the right to know how our tax dollars are being spent. Unfortunately, many citizens have a difficult time finding information out about where local school districts, municipalities, and even counties [...]
Address Spending, Not Revenues
by Aon Hussain Spending has undoubtedly become a contentious issue. President Obama and House Republicans have repeatedly failed to come to a compromise in their negotiations on whether to raise the debt ceiling, on whether taxes should increase, and on what specific spending cuts should be enacted. In January, Illinois too was faced with strenuous [...]
PRESS RELEASE: City of Evanston, Evanston District 65 Earn High Marks in Transparency Audit
CHICAGO (June 15, 2011) — The city of Evanston scored the highest of five Evanston-area governments in the latest leg of the Illinois Policy Institute’s “Local Transparency Project,” which grades governments on the availability to the public of vital community information. The city earned a score of 91.7 out of 100 possible points for making [...]
Illinois Needs to Learn to Fix Its Schools
by Aon Hussain Just last week, the Chicago Sun Times published an interesting article about the state of rising teacher salaries. In some parts of Illinois, it is not uncommon to see some teachers earning six figures. In addition to high teacher salaries, administrators of various school districts are making a lot of money even [...]
Illinois Citizen Conference Call 7PM Thursday: 2011 Illinois Legislative Session Wrap-Up
Join the Illinois Policy Institute’s Kristina Rasmussen and Collin Hitt for a special conference call this Thursday at 7pm to recap the 2011 legislative session and go over what lies ahead.