Thursday, March 05, 2009

Coming (trust us) To A County Near You


Outcomes of “Open Illinois Week”

Richard Lorenc, Director of Outreach at showmethespending.com Coalition partner the Illinois Policy Institute, submitted an update about Open Illinois Week (February 23–27, 2009):

“The very first Open Illinois Week was a success! The Illinois Policy Institute, in partnership with www.sunshinereview.org, focused last week’s event on Illinois county governments in an effort to get their leaders to commit to a platform of transparent, open government. Liberty Leaders from the state’s three most populous counties received positive responses from county board members who were asked to sign the Institute’s Transparency Pledge. Additionally, Liberty Leaders contributed to a growing body of transparency knowledge by adding information to their counties’ listings on www.sunshinereview.org.”

“The impact of the Open Illinois Week event is already being felt. Just today, March 4th, the Cook County board passed a resolution introduced by Transparency Pledge signatory Tony Peraica to post county expenditures online. ‘We’re declaring war on the waste and abuse that costs taxpayers millions of their hard-earned money,’ said Peraica. ‘It’s time to usher in a new era of transparency and fiscal sanity in Cook County government.’”

“The next Open Illinois Week event will be held this May and will focus on another level of Illinois government. Sign up for the Institute’s Liberty Leaders program to get details!”

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