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Township officials are surprised to find themselves under attack from critics and are returning fire. Government works best when its super close to the people, they argue.

The majority of the 20 suburban Cook County townships hoard large amounts of cash that’s in excess of the “rainy day” fund that municipal finance experts recommend. Some townships have enough cash to cover a full year’s expenses without going to taxpayers.

It costs millions of dollars annually to staff and operate townships. The BGA inquiry found that the 20 suburban townships employed 562 full-time workers and 425 part-time employees, adding up to $27.6 million in total salaries. Are they all necessary?

Thousands of ex-employees are reaping bounteous pensions that often greatly exceed what they have actually paid into the system. What’s more, the cost to taxpayers will spiral out of control unless major public pension reforms are made in Illinois.

This seven-month investigation with the Center on Wrongful Convictions tracked exonerations in Illinois from 1989 through 2010 to determine the financial and human costs, and proposes several reforms.

The BGA/CWC investigation of 85 wrongful convictions revealed that it is far cheaper to incarcerate the innocent than to compensate them afterward. The cost of keeping them in jail and prison for 926 years came to $18.5 million. Litigation and compensation expenditures afterward were more than ten times that.

The BGA/CWC compiled a list of best practices already in place elsewhere in the country, proposals from blue-ribbon commissions, and recommendations made during previous reform efforts in Illinois, chosen because nearly all involve only minimal expense. This list should be considered as a starting point toward reducing the escalating human and financial toll of wrongful

Sourcing for the BGA/CWC investigation includes court documents, government records, interviews with the wrongfully convicted, their attorneys, and law enforcement officials, news articles, and responses to Freedom of Information Act requests.

Forty-two men lost more than a decade of their lives, and five lost a quarter century or close to it. Often they have emerged as exonerated relics, unfamiliar with cell phones, intimidated by computers, lepers in the marketplace and sometimes pariahs in their chosen neighborhoods. All have lost what most of us hold dear—contact with spouses, children, parents, and other

As part of our Rescuing Illinois Project, we investigative the millions of dollars in pension benefits guaranteed to former statewide office holders.