By: Diane Benjamin Earmarks were abolished for awhile by Republicans because they explode the budget. Evidently both parties no longer care about the debt your grandchildren and beyond will be paying off. From Adam Andrzejewski of Open the Books: “Earmarks are member pet projects doled out to legally bribe congressmen for their votes on large […]
By: Diane Benjamin On April 22nd the Illinois House passed HB 2523 116 to 0. For once every Democrat and every Republican agreed: https://ilga.gov/legislation/votehistory/102/house/10200HB2523_04222021_027000T.pdf What is HB 2523? This bill amends the language in the original bill that created the Police Officers Pension Investment Fund. Remember when pension funds were consolidated to hopefully perform better? […]
By: Diane Benjamin Open the Books has a new interactive map showing the salaries of government employees across the country. I highlighted Bloomington Normal. When you click on the link below you will see 4 “balloons” over BlONO. Make sure you click on all 4, the data is different on each. Want to know why […]
By: Diane Benjamin From Bills and Payroll for Monday night: Page 113 http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=11064 ADMIN City Council Exp IL Municipal League $ 310.00 07/13/16 IML Reg ‐ D.Hauman ADMIN City Council Exp IL Municipal League $ 165.00 07/13/16 IML Reg ‐ M. Mwilambwe ADMIN City Council Exp IL Municipal League $ 310.00 07/19/16 IML Reg ‐ […]
By: Diane Benjamin Last month I wrote about the Federal Government arming local governments. https://blnnews.com/2016/05/12/feds-arming-local-gov/ I included lists of mostly guns that area cities received. Creve Coeur received many more items. Their list included all kinds of unusual items, so that made me wonder what happened to the extensive list. Of course I filed a […]
By: Diane Benjamin Adam Andrzejewski continues to expose government corruption. His latest is an interactive map showing Federal weapons loaned to public bodies. You can see the map here: http://www.openthebooks.com/map/?Map=1&MapType=Pin&Zip=61704 National stories about this investigation: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-05-11/militarization-americas-police-despite-obama-promises-war-weapon-spending-soared-201 http://www.forbes.com/forbes/welcome/#1745e79954fe Below are what some area cities acquired in the militarization of the local police: (click to make a […]
By: Diane Benjamin Source: http://www.openthebooks.com/map/?Map=1823&MapType=Heat&Zip=61704 Highest area school district monthly pensions: See others at the link above. . . . .
By: Diane Benjamin Tari Renner and David Hales love to tout the greatness of the Illinois Municipal League. From the IML website: The Illinois Municipal League is the formal voice for Illinois municipalities. The League was founded in 1913 and has worked continuously for the benefit of municipalities, promoting competence and integrity in administration of […]
By: Diane Benjamin Today a lawsuit was filed against the Edgar County Watchdogs, the former chairperson of the College of DuPage, and Adam Andrzejewski of For the Good of Illinois. The suit was filed by a member of the COD’s fundraising foundation who just happened to get no-bid contracts from COD, some marked as architectural […]
By: Diane Benjamin NOBODY has done more to force transparency on government than Adam Andrzejewski (An-Gee-eski) and his Open The Books project. If you aren’t on his email list, you need to be! Click here: http://tinyurl.com/OTB-Email-List Open the Books has compiled a summary for every taxing body in the State of Illinois. The entire list […]
“This kind of work requires time, tenacity and resources.” Jim Dey | Champaign News-Gazette November 2, 2013 Thanks to your support and aggressive citizen action, Illinois has a future. Here are some highlights: LAWSUIT FORCED OPEN ILLINOIS STATE CHECKBOOK: Republican Comptroller Judy Baar-Topinka falsely claimed that production of state checkbook was an undue burden, and […]
Proof Obama wants America mad at the GOP for cutting his spending, even though it wasn’t real cuts – just a cut to how much spending increases in the future: 1) White House tours ended: http://news.yahoo.com/white-house-tours-end-today-112207290.html 2) Education for Active duty military ended: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/03/08/the-sequestration-cuts-education-benefits-for-active-duty-military-personnel.html 3) Border Patrol Agents cut: http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2013/02/28/budget-cuts-to-hit-border-patrol-ranks-in-perfect-storm/ Are the American people stupid […]
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