They are the muckrakers of the farm fields, bloodhounds for small-town waste and corruption, self-appointed guardians of taxpayer money who comb through the books of municipal governments all across Illinois in search of misconduct and misspending.
Kirk Allen and John Kraft call themselves the Edgar County Watchdogs. Others call them busybodies with too much time on their hands.
With a digital soapbox and knowledge of state open records and meetings laws, Allen and Kraft have been calling out mayors, board chairmen and state’s attorneys since fall 2010 when they became frustrated over separate local issues and decided to do something together about them.
“Some folks love us. Some hate us,” Allen said. “The ones that hate us, we’ve usually uncovered something about them or their family.”
Although they can be scattershot in identifying their targets and sometimes focused on what, at least at first blush, seems like minutiae, the two military veterans, both in their early 50s, tap into a deep vein of disaffection for government and how elected officials operate. That is especially so in a state with more units of government than any other and one with a long history of political corruption.
They spend most of their time in the rural communities around their homes in Edgar County, located in the state’s midsection not far from the Indiana line. But they have ranged from southern Illinois to as far north as DuPage County, where they recently got involved in the controversy surrounding the buyout package for a community college president.
Last year they even threatened to make citizen’s arrests of a small park district board whose members had refused to allow public comment at a meeting. In a video of the incident, Kraft can be heard saying, “You’re under arrest, sir,” as a member of the Clark County Park District board walked away. Allen called the sheriff, who confirmed for board members that by law they indeed must allow time for public comments.
Read More: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-downstate-watchdogs-met-20150301-story.html#page=1
I’ve often thought we need a similar watchdog group over school districts.
After being on a board for a number of years you would be surprised how your money gets spent without your knowledge. Backroom closed executive meetings to work out deals and then the shuffling of money to hide it. All legal but sneaky to say the least.
Not to mention the shell game to collect taxes for some fund category too. The public is totally clueless. I don’t think anyone ever requested a FOIA to see the detailed budget.
Also the wasteful spending I saw going on. Small amounts soon add up to a large amount. What really made me mad was the investment money the district was holding and poorly invested it. One superintendent and I really got into it one day when I found out what interest a small local bank was paying verses a larger major bank. Maybe the bank gave him a low home loan rate for it. Makes you wonder.
I had hoped somebody would pattern what I do with school districts, it hasn’t happened. I wish there was more of me to do research.