Following allegations that a Dixon city official stole $53 million from city coffers, State Sens. Dan Duffy is calling for legislation that would require local governments in Illinois to post their checkbooks online.

Senate Bill 3392 would require all local governments – including school boards, townships and municipalities – to post their checkbooks online. The state senators say it’s possible that the alleged theft could have been flagged earlier if the public had access to this vital information.

“These accusations highlight why it’s so important for Illinois to move forward on government transparency,” said Sen. Duffy, R-Lake Barrington. “If you look at the city of Dixon’s website, there is almost no financial information available to the public. Without filing onerous Freedom of Information Act requests, the public had no mechanism for holding its city officials accountable or investigating the finances themselves.”  

State Senator Dan Duffy (R-Lake Barrington) will be hosting a free clinic with the Citizens Utility Board on April 30, 2012 in Wauconda.  

The Citizen’s Utility Board (CUB) will be on had to discuss tips and tricks for saving money on your phone bills.  CUB staff will be available to help you go over your phone bill, so be sure to bring several of your phone bills with you. Free refreshments will be provided.

The CUB’s mission is to promote health, welfare and prosperity of all the citizens of the State by ensuring effective and democratic representation of utility consumers.  

The event will be held 10:30 AM at the Wauconda Township building at 505 W. Bonner Rd in Wauconda.

For more information about the seminar please contact Senator Duffy’s Office at 847-277-7100.

This week the Lake County News Sun published an editorial about Senator Duffy's fight against abusive boards and commissions. 

From the Lake County News Sun:

It would be fine to have these noble groups, except they spend state money and produce no tangible results. State Sen. Dan Duffy, R-Lake Barrington, is on a one-man crusade to winnow the number of these boards and commissions. Good luck, senator on trying to the break grip of these make-work agencies.

Take, for instance, the Illinois Torture and Inquiry Relief Commission, a part of the state’s Human Rights Commission. This group sounds like it has some lofty ideals, but Duffy points out the commission has met only four times since February 2011, while spending $150,000 on two salaries, including $80,000 for an executive director. We would assume being a state employee the executive director also receives health-care benefits and a state pension.

To read the full article please click here.

State Senator Dan Duffy (R-Lake Barrington) is continuing his battle against unnecessary state boards and commissions by taking a closer look at exactly how these boards are spending taxpayer money.

“There are far too many boards and commissions in this state doing far too little work to justify their enormous cost to taxpayers,” says Duffy.  “It’s high time we take a good hard look at what all these boards are actually doing and start eliminating some of these expenses.”

According to Duffy, the Illinois Torture and Inquiry Relief Commission, a division of the Human Rights Commission, is just one of many commissions in the state that are being allocated a great deal of money, but producing no tangible results.

While the Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission was established to investigate and provide services on cases of torture in Illinois, they can provide no program goals, plans, or any results that the Commission has produced.

In the 2012 Fiscal Year the Commission was appropriated $150,000, nearly all of which was spent on salary for two employees.  The executive director has been paid $80,000 in the last year and, according to time sheets, spent only 7 hours performing duties related to the commission.

“Since February 28 of 2011, the Illinois Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission have only met a total of 4 times. Their longest meeting lasted a whopping total of 2 hours,” says Duffy.  “The commission’s executive director has been paid $80,000 for less than a day’s work. This is just another example of how the state is wasting taxpayer money.  Not only are we paying these people for accomplishing little-to-nothing, but more importantly we’re giving them healthcare benefits, as well as pensions.”