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BGA posts the Financial/Economic Interest Statements of Local Elected Officials
CHICAGO – The Better Government Association (“BGA”) continues its efforts to make government more accountable and transparent by posting the Statements of Financial and Economic Interest of elected Cook County and City of Chicago officials.
The records include the 2008 filings for Mayor Richard Daley, City Treasurer Stephanie Neely, City Clerk Miguel Del Valle and all fifty aldermen, as well as the 2007 and 2008 filings for each Cook County Commissioner. The BGA will soon add the statements of county-wide elected officeholders including the County Board President, the States Attorney, Clerk, Treasurer, Recorder of Deeds, Clerk of the Circuit Court, and the Sheriff.
Conflicts of Interest laws are designed to give the public assurances that our elected officials are acting in the public interest. The Chicago Municipal Code requires Chicago elected officials to file a Statement of Financial Interest annually with the Chicago Board of Ethics and Illinois law requires Cook County elected officials to file a Statement of Economic Interests annually with the Cook County Clerk’s Office.
“These laws purportedly help citizens because the statements are public records open for review. However, most citizens don’t have the time to track these records down. To make matters worse, the records aren’t posted on the Internet. We think citizens in the 21st century have a right to see these important records at the click of a button so we have posted them onto our website” said Jay Stewart, Executive Director of the BGA.
Currently Secretary of State Jesse White’s office maintains a searchable database of state-level elected officials, appointees, and high ranking employees and their requisite Statements of Economic Interest. “If Jesse White can do it then so can the City and the County” said Stewart.
“With multi-billion dollar budgets and full time information technology staffers, both the City and the County could post these records on their own if they chose to do so” Stewart said. “However, just like the taxpayer-funded payrolls, until the politicians decide to make this information easily accessible to the public, the BGA will continue doing do the work for them.”
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Founded in 1923, the Better Government Association is an independent, non-partisan government watchdog. Our mission is to combat waste, fraud, and corruption in government by conducting investigative research and litigation to expose problems; researching policy solutions promoting transparency and accountability in government; and using internship programs to train the next generation of investigators and public interest lawyers.
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