BGA Writer Credits Karen McConnauhay for Ethics Reform

State Sen. Karen McConnaughay is given credit by Better Government Association writer Madeleine Doubek for helping “drive” ethics reform this session. McConauhay said, ““I’m hopeful there was enough demonstration by rank-and-file members that there is momentum. This is just the beginning of … Continue reading

BGA Makes Email Pitch for Support for Bill to Allow Voters to Abolish McHenry County Townships

Here it is: McHenry County Residents Should Be Allowed To Dissolve Their Townships A bill in the Illinois legislature would allow McHenry County residents to dissolve their townships. Government consolidation is a key priority for the BGA and the bill … Continue reading

BGA Writes McHenry County Board in Support of Bill to Allow Abolition of Township Government by Referendum

Following up on a simple support statement for Rep. David McSweeney’s bill to allow abolition of township governments in McHenry County by referendum, the Better Government Association has issued the following letter sent to the McHenry County Board last week: … Continue reading

BGA Goes After Information from Taxpayer Financed Not-for-Profits

Way back in the 1970’s I introduced a bill that would have allowed the Freedom of Information Act to apply to non-profit organizations that received the majority of their funding from tax money. The Daily Herald thought it was a … Continue reading

BGA: Merging Recorder with Clerk’s Office “Makes Perfect Sense”

Complaints have been made by some in the political arena that eliminating the elected official who runs the McHenry County Recorder of Deeds office is a bad idea, because McHenry County is too large a county for a merger with … Continue reading

Looking for the Beef in Jack Franks’ Latest Consolidation Bill

Andy Shaw of the Better Government Association bragged that Jack Franks’ bill that would allow the McHenry County Board to do what the DuPage County Board had done with regard to governmental consolidation deserved “a shout out.” I remember Franks’ … Continue reading

County Could Farm Out Snow Removal Near Municipalities

BGA President Andy Shaw writes in the Chicago Sun-Times Monday of suggestions made by former Cook County Commissioner (now Congressman) Mike Quigley on saving Cook County government money. One that sounds a lot like something McHenry County Board member Mike … Continue reading

Andy Shaw Wanted Lame Duck Legislators to Make “Tough Votes”

There’s a remarkable sentence in BGA Executive Director Andy Shaw’s column in the Chicago Sun-Times: “And yet this week, in a ‘lame duck’ session that included 35 exiting lawmakers who theoretically could have cast one final ‘though’ vote without fear … Continue reading

BGA Rolls Out State and Local Government Pension Data Base, Downstate Police & Fire Missing

An email arrived from the Better Government Association’s Andy Shaw. It announces the unveiling of its data base of state and local governmental pensions. “We’ve updated the BGA Payroll Database of 500,000 government workers with 2012 numbers and, for the first time, … Continue reading

BGA Takes on Excessive Number of Local Governments, Lack of Legislative Competition

The following BGA piece, first published in the Chicago Sun-Times on June 1st, is reprinted with permission of the Better Government Association. Local Government Has Obesity Problem Public agencies need a crash diet, with unnecessary units of government eliminated and … Continue reading

BGA Not Just Asking for Information from the McHenry County Sheriff

When I figured out that the Better Government Association was only searching for information about Gary Gauger from the McHenry County Sheriff’s Department, I wondered if that meant searches for similarly situated past inmates was occurring. Without doing an exhaustive … Continue reading

Better Government Association Looks at Sheriff’s Department

It’s not only Tribune investigative reporter Joe Mahr who is asking for detailed information from the McHenry County Sheriff’s Department. So is the BGA, in the person of policy intern Samuel Cuomo. On December 29th he sent the following Freedom … Continue reading

BGA Says Sheriff’s Department Being Investigated by State Police

After reprising the indictment of McHenry County State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi and Metra, which the Better Government Association says has been “long the domain of McHenry County Republicans,” in an article today. “The State Police (has) launch(ed) an investigation into … Continue reading

Mike Mahon Criticizes Kieth Nygren on Transparency or Lack Thereof in Release of Phil Pagano Suicide 911 Call

Read the press release as it was sent: MAHON NOTES 911 TAPE SHOWS NYGREN STANCE ON PUBLIC INFORMATION Candidate for McHenry County Sheriff Mike Mahon Friday said that incumbent Sheriff Keith Nygren’s initial refusal to release the 911 tapes surrounding … Continue reading