A national transparency organization picked up on one of my stories and is urging Gov. Pat Quinn to sign two pro-transparency bills into law.
Sunshine Review, based in Alexandria, Va., is urging Quinn to sign bills to add county, township and municipal salaries to the state's online transparency portal, and to require meeting agendas to have better descriptions of matters up for a final vote.
My story about the two bills, which ran in Sunday's paper, can be found here.
“Sunshine Review applauds the Illinois’ General Assembly for their commitment to government transparency. By amending the Illinois Open Meetings Act and simplifying the salary search capabilities, more information will be available to citizens to ensure that government remains open and accountable to the people," Sunshine Review President Michael Barnhart said in a news release.
I never heard back from Quinn's office as to his intentions, but Quinn has a pretty good track record of signing pro-transparency legislation into law, so I'd be surprised if he didn't.
Both bills survived challenges by local government lobbying groups, which can be counted on to oppose any bill improving your right to know how your tax money is spent. And as I love to remind you all, your tax dollars also pay to help your governments lobby against open government.
Hopefully, Quinn will deal our county, municipal and school boards two defeats in their Secret War on Transparency.
At first blush, I typically treat opposition from government lobbyists the same way I treat opposition from temperance unions – anything they don't like has to be a good idea worthy of implementation.
Senior Writer Kevin Craver can be reached at kcraver@shawmedia.com.
