From the St. Louis Post Dispatch

Group pushes for Internet posting of all state employees' salaries
By Kathleen Haughney
POST-DISPATCH SPRINGFIELD BUREAU
04/04/2008
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Salaries of all state employees from governor to janitor would be readily available on the Internet to voters under a plan promoted by a taxpayer accountability group Thursday.
Modeled after a Missouri website — http://www.mapyourtaxes.mo.gov — the Illinois site would create a database of all current state employees and consultants, a database of all current state expenditures, a database of current tax credits and a database of all current state contracts.
A coalition of 17 grass-roots and taxpayer protection groups came out in support of legislation to create an Illinois Accountability Portal at a press conference in Springfield. The website, coalition members said, would make taxpayers more informed about government use of money.
"This isn't a left-right issue. It is a right-wrong issue," said Sandra Fabry, state government affairs manager for Americans for Tax Reform.
Legislation to create the website passed the Illinois House 108-0 and is now before the Senate.
Senate President Emil Jones, D-Chicago, has previously refused to consider government accountability measures because they do not go far enough to shed light on Illinois politics and government.
"Senator Jones, this is as comprehensive as it gets," said state Rep. Mike Tryon, R-Crystal Lake, who was the House sponsor of the measure.
The legislation also is facing opposition from Illinois AFL-CIO, which is concerned about salary information for nonpolitical positions being made public.
"These are state troopers and park rangers, child protection workers and prison employees, snowplow operators and social workers and nurses and more. These are average working people, not those who make the big bucks," said Illinois AFL-CIO President Michael T. Carrigan in a prepared statement.
The measure is HB4765.