For The Good of Illinois v. Illinois Office of Comptroller

There is no more important function of the states’ top financial  officer than to give a line-by-line accounting to the people of Illinois of  how their money is spent. It shouldn’t take a lawsuit to expose all financial transactions to the  public.” Adam Andrzejewski, CEO, nonprofit For The Good of Illinois. How can taxpayers have confidence in any proposed state pension  solution, if elected officials are hiding line-by-line spending?

Springfield, IL – Today For The Good of Illinois filed a lawsuit to  gain access to the state’s most important financial data- the State  of Illinois checkbook – which was refused to us under a FOIA request.

Andrzejewski stated, “We filed the lawsuit because the Comptroller is  obligated to obey the Freedom of Information law and the Attorney  General is obligated to enforce the law.”

Nine months ago, Comptroller Judy Baar-Topinka rejected our request  for the states’ checkbook. For the past five months, Attorney General  Lisa Madigan’s office has sat silent on the enforcement action.

The Comptrollers’ rejection asserted "review, redaction, and  arrangement of all 2011 vendor payments would take multiple staff  members, dedicated solely to this request, more than three days to  complete." Topinka concluded that fulfilling the request was an “undue 
burden.”

For The Good of Illinois then filed an appeal with the Public Access  Counselor at the Attorney General’s Office. After a few perfunctory  phone calls and emails, there’s been five months of
silence.

Adam Andrzejewski continued, “If the Comptroller can succeed in denying access to public information with such a feeble reason, then  there really isn’t a ‘Freedom of Information Act’ in Illinois.”

The Office of Comptroller has 305 employees and a total payroll of  $14.5 million (2011). Three employees working for three days,  fulfilling our FOIA request would total approximately $1,500. That’s 1/10,000th of the payroll- certainly not an undue financial or work 
burden.

Adam Andrzejewski CEO stated, “We’re not asking Comptroller Topinka  to lead the charge for openness and accountability- we’re asking her  to follow the law and to follow nearly every other major unit of government  in reasonably releasing this important data.”

No other unit of government has rejected our request for their  checkbook:
- City of Chicago provided 6.8 million checks for $74 billion spent  since 2001;
- All Illinois Colleges & Universities, provided 6.8 million checks for $69 billion since 2004;
- 944 Illinois school districts provided records for $52 billion  since 2006.

The Comptroller’s “Ledger” website illustrates why we need  line-by-line data. Containing summaries of vendor spending and  aggregate budget data, the individual transactions and details are hidden from taxpayers. The site hides the facts of exactly how the state spends money and therefore begs the question, “What are they hiding?”

Example: Nineteen times in eighteen months, Attorney General Lisa Madigan has approved reimbursement to an employee to travel from her home in Michigan to her mother’s home in Chicago. It’s 506 miles roundtrip. Thousands of taxpayer dollars have been spent. An in-state travel reimbursement account funds the travel, but the employee lives two 
states away.

Our goal at For the Good of Illinois is to post online at www.openthebooks.com  “Every Dime” taxed and spent by all 7,000 units of Illinois government.

It shouldn’t take a lawsuit to force open the State of Illinois checkbook.

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