Results tagged “bettergovernmentassociation”

• The Tribune reports Roman Szabelski, executive director of Catholic Cemeteries of the Archdiocese of Chicago, has been appointed to take over day-to-day operations of Burr Oak Cemetery in the wake of the horrific discoveries of the past week.
• The Reader's Ben Joravsky checked out the Chicago 2016 neighborhood meeting last night. What did he think? In his words: "I Tried."
• A man from Lombard was sentenced to 18 months in prison for trying to set up a dog fight for his pit bull. The Chicagoist Intern does not approve.

Governor Blagojevich suffered a setback today as the Fourth District Illinois Appellate Court ruled in favor of releasing to the public federal subpoenas his administration has received. The Better Government Association sued the Governor to release the documents under the state of Illinois' Freedom of Information Act claiming they wanted to see how extensive the corruption investigation of Blagojevich has become.

Sangamon County Circuit Judge Patrick Kelley ruled Wednesday that Governor Blagojevich's administration must disclose subpoenas from federal prosecutors in the ongoing investigation into state hiring. When the governor's office denied a Freedom of Information Act request for copies of the subpoenas last year, the Better Government Association, a Chicago-based government watchdog group, sued. US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald is investigating charges that the Blagojevich administration traded state jobs for campaign contributions.

Although it's pretty much a given that Daley will coast to re-election at the end of next month, by no means does it mean that his time is office has been an unmitigated success. In a report card scheduled to be issued today by a coalition of interest groups and local activists called "Developing Government Accountability to the People," Daley received low grades in many areas, including economic development, transportation, education, criminal justice and ethics....

While Topinka and G-Rod tried desperately to link each other to convicted former Governor George Ryan in last night’s debate, the Executive Director of Chicago’s Board of Ethics was handing in her resignation. More time with the retiring husband, she says.

Now and then a Chicago newspaper runs an article detailing gynormous sums of money coursing through the bank account of a campaign fund connected to a powerful city official. The story is usually structured: "Big sum of money -> little-known ward organization -> powerful official connected to it -> city contractors contribute to fund". The implication, with no direct facts, is usually that the powerful official directs city contractors to their favored ward organization, and in return the contractor gets a job.