Organizing Committees for Transparency

In an effort to educate those wishing to take a closer look at local government, Dr. Fusco, former superintendent in Branford, Connecticut put together a manual on forming a Citizen’s Audit Committee (CAC).

Dr. Fusco’s work in combination with the Yankee Institute reinforces the need to form citizen committees in order to tackle larger problems within local and state government. Too often investigative citizens tackle issues as single units but there are huge benefits of combining efforts. Simply put, more ground can be covered than any one individual is able to accomplish, especially when dealing with the complexities of local governments or school boards.

“A Citizens Audit Committee can do what school boards and town officials are either unwilling to do for political reasons or unable to do because of a lack of skill, information, and time.”

An additional benefit of CACs is that they will provide, “independent and objective oversight to budgeting and spending practices by assessing whether there is efficiency or effectiveness.”

This document was also written in order to help explain confusing terminology, which often is where concerned taxpayers end up hitting a roadblock. Even motivated individuals can get tripped up with the jargon used in many of the government forms.

The report also provides strategies of where to begin to look for discrepancies and then ultimately what citizens should do once they have found meaningful data. Reaching those who can utilize the findings becomes the next important step so that problems can be amended and preventative measures can be put in place for the future.

Through the efforts of the Yankee Institute more citizens will have the tools to effectively expose problems that exist in public offices and combat corruption by alerting those who pay for it- the everyday taxpayer.

Follow up on the lavish lifestyle of Charles Flowers

An editorial appeared in the Wednesday edition of the Chicago Tribune, which outlined in greater detail the irregularities found in the Suburban Cook County Regional Office of Education budget. Included in this report are the shocking expenditures that Charles Flowers assumed would go unnoticed by the Cook County taxpayers. Unfortunately for him they have been noticed and a memo has been sent to Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez for their review into the taxpayer-funded shopping spree. A few of the shocking expenditures include:

• Changes for thousands of dollars in private expenses for him and his family on a trip to Mississippi
• $15,000 in cash advances for two employees, including his sister that holds a position as his administrative assistant
• Money paid towards his nephew who only worked eight hour days but received pay for nine

In addition to these purchases, Flowers still could not account for 70% of the receipts for charges made on this government card as mentioned in the previous blog entry. The state’s attorney will have her hands full as more details are uncovered regarding just how much taxpayer money was wasted at the command of Superintendent Flowers.

The Importance of Hosting School Budgets Online

Corporate bailouts have been in the news as of late, but how about personal bailouts? Well, Charles Flowers, the superintendent of the Suburban Cook County Regional Office of Education was found recently to be skimming the district’s cash account when his paychecks just were not enough. Oh yeah, and this scheme also included his two sisters and nephew.
Phil Kadner of the Southtown Star reported that

Less that a year after his election, he approved a $6,000 cash to his sister Barbara Flowers. “These repayments were to occur each pay period stating on April 4th 2008.”

When the state auditor general became involved it was found and reported that, “the payroll register does not show any repayments between this date [April 4, 2008] and June 30, 2008.” This money, paid out illegally, and unbeknownst to the taxpayers, was used for various personal purchases whose receipts have conveniently been hard to locate. When asked about the allegations of theft, Dr. Flowers claimed that the bills were “repaid from his personal bank account.” Apparently the money was taken and paid back, all without proper documentation that would come with having the receipts on hand. No harm right? It will be interesting to see what the Illinois State’s Attorney will think of that story.

When it is all said and done, I think it’s safe to say that the taxpayers of greater Suburban Cook County will be calling for greater transparency within the district’s expansive public budget.
Actions that Cook County taxpayers will likely call for might mirror the measures that just have been enacted in Freeland and Bullock Creek schools in Michigan. These two schools are the first in the state to post their checkbook registers online as part of a ‘Show Michigan the Money’ statewide transparency project by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

Ultimately, something tells me that this will not be the last case of abuse we hear of within the public school systems in Illinois. This will especially be the case if the budgets become available to a wider range of taxpayers and watchdogs interested in where their money goes; both for planned projects and anything illegal in nature that might be going on.