* From the Civic Federation…
House Bill 3649, the Debt Transparency Act, is a good step toward providing increased oversight and better management of Illinois’ still-enormous backlog of unpaid bills. The Civic Federation supports and is encouraged by commonsense legislation that would provide for better public accounting of the State’s liabilities, particularly the requirement to identify interest penalties owed on past due bills.
It is reasonable to require state agencies to disclose certain information to the public on a regular basis, including the amount of bills being held by each agency and an estimate of late payment interest penalties for eligible liabilities. With increased access to this information in real time, legislators and executive leaders can make appropriate policy decisions to better manage the State’s obligations and prevent the backlog from growing. Taxpayers will be informed about whether their tax dollars are being efficiently spent.
* The Rockford Register-Star was more pointed…
Rauner said he vetoed the bill because it would make the bureaucrats work too hard. Awwww. That’s a real eyebrow raiser, governor. We’ve never heard a Republican make that kind of argument.
We don’t know exactly what prompted the reform-minded former investment fund manager to veto this common sense good-government measure, but we have a hunch: Perhaps he wants to hide the whole truth about how much the state owes people or companies that have provided services to the state and have not been paid. It would be an inconvenient truth on the campaign trail.
And perhaps he wants to hide the true condition of Illinois specifically from the young, up-and-coming Mendoza, an ambitious political dynamo with the charisma the good Lord denied Rauner. […]
Our main point remains: Illinois should be striving to open the processes of government to the taxpayers who must pay for decades of mismanagement.
We agree with the Better Government Association and newspaper editorial boards throughout Illinois in urging lawmakers to override Rauner’s veto, which is scheduled to come up for a vote Wednesday.
And I still haven’t seen a single editorial or independent opinion column arguing in favor of the governor’s position.
- Honeybadger - Wednesday, Oct 25, 17 @ 10:05 am:
We don’t know exactly what prompted the reform-minded former investment fund manager to veto this common sense good-government measure, but we have a hunch: Perhaps he wants to hide the whole truth about how much the state owes people or companies that have provided services to the state and have not been paid. It would be an inconvenient truth on the campaign trail.
Ya think?
- Arsenal - Wednesday, Oct 25, 17 @ 10:11 am:
==reform-minded==
I think you know this, but he’s not reform-minded. He’s got some issue with his former General Counsel going on, he’s being sued by a former business partner and friend and trying to cover it up, he’s got that sweetheart deal for a warehouse in Springfield, and he plays Blago-style funny-money games to give his favorite staffers bigger salaries.
His only problem with the way Springfield was doing business before he got there was he wasn’t getting his beak wet.
- Ghost - Wednesday, Oct 25, 17 @ 10:12 am:
Gov released ethics reforms when he took office, then acts to hide everything. It would be interesting to check if there are any Rauner donors or business interests with large bills being held and allowed to earn better then market interest rate returns. Especially if there has been no approp authorizing the underlying obligation.
- Ghost - Wednesday, Oct 25, 17 @ 10:14 am:
Perhaps the AG should sure Tunes personally for spending without an apropr, since the gov has no authority to spend, only the individual acting illegally could do so.
- Norseman - Wednesday, Oct 25, 17 @ 10:15 am:
Looks like a no brainer for an override vote. Many GOP can vote yes on override and then send Rauner a card with SB 40 written on it.
- JS Mill - Wednesday, Oct 25, 17 @ 10:19 am:
=up-and-coming Mendoza, an ambitious political dynamo with the charisma the good Lord denied Rauner. =
THAT has to hurt. Especially from the GOP friendly RR-S no less.
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Oct 25, 17 @ 10:22 am:
Rauner makes Biss appear charismatic.
- don the legend - Wednesday, Oct 25, 17 @ 10:38 am:
Channeling my inner LP (yikes).
This silly transparency legislation is just an attempt by the corrupt Madigan to take attention away from his failure to pass Cullerton’s pension bill.
- wordslinger - Wednesday, Oct 25, 17 @ 11:05 am:
Guess the op-ed from that contractual employee at CMS didn’t dazzle as hoped.
The fact that the former comptroller demonstrated that she didn’t know that the comptroller’s office is in the executive branch probably didn’t inspire confidence in her credibility.
- Sonny - Wednesday, Oct 25, 17 @ 11:23 am:
“We don’t know exactly what prompted the reform-minded former investment fund manager to veto this common sense good-government measure, but we have a hunch: Perhaps he wants to hide the whole truth about how much the state owes people or companies that have provided services to the state and have not been paid. It would be an inconvenient truth on the campaign trail.”
Woof
The drip drip of favorable editorials is impressive. Pretty sure Mendoza didn’t get very many ed board endorsements last time around, that’ll change during this next cycle perhaps based on this isssue alone. Rauner didn’t do himself or any aspiring wingmen or wingwoman any favors with this veto.
- Michelle Flaherty - Wednesday, Oct 25, 17 @ 2:16 pm:
Kirk Dillard is at the Capitol today, as if override efforts needed any more help.
Either that or it’s time for the state’s annual apology to him.