-By Warner Todd Huston
Many thought that conservative activist Adam Andrzejewski was going to announce that he would be running for Illinois State Treasurer this afternoon, but he pulled a fast one on everyone with his announcement on March 19 at the University Club in Chicago.
Andrzejewski, who ran for Governor on a reform agenda in 2010, called a press conference on Tuesday morning leaving some in the room clearly stunned when he announced that instead of seeking office in 2014, he would dedicate himself to his various government transparency efforts.
“After consulting with supporters, donors, advisors, and my family,” Andrzejewski said in a statement, “I have decided not to run for office in 2014 election cycle.”
Andrzejewski went on to announce that he is going to dedicate himself to his newest project to put the federal checkbook online. The effort called Open The Books (http://www.openthebooks.com/) will give citizens access to government spending across the nation.
“We are the national leader in pioneering online transparency of government spending. We have been effective at exposing corrupt practices, and we have assisted in getting good candidates elected to office. Our platform of real solutions–expanded transparency, forensic audits, and freezing property taxes–is robust. These policies, along with other necessary reforms, begin to solve the long-term problems of the state,” Andrzejewski said.
Andrzejewski’s For The Good Of Illinois (http://forthegoodofillinois.org/) has posted online the salaries of nearly every single Illinois government employee as well as 12 years of the federal checkbook.
For The Good of Illinois also launched new iPhone and Android smart phone aps to reveal government waste on an epic level.
Andrzejewski’s organization recently took State Comptroller Judy Baar-Topinka to court to force her office to complete electronic production of the Illinois checkbook to affect more transparent state spending. Topinka has steadfastly refused to accede to Andrzejewski’s requests for a look at the books.
“Our lawsuit is the result of the states’ top financial officer refusing to show citizens where taxpayer money is spent and the states’ top law enforcement officer refusing to do anything about it,” Andrzejewski said.
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson
Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, RightPundits.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, AmericanDaily.com, among many, many others. Mr. Huston is also endlessly amused that one of his articles formed the basis of an article in Germany’s Der Spiegel Magazine in 2008.
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