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Group Puts Out Book on State "Piglet" Spending -- LINK AVAILABLE HERE
Two anti-spending groups have found $350 million in the Illinois state budget that they say need not be spent at all.

The Piglet Book, 19 pages plus footnotes put out each year by the Illinois Policy Institute and Citizens against Government Waste, identifies these items.

Some of the objectionable expenses are easy to ridicule, such as paying $84,690 for ongoing education for state employees at a university in Kentucky, but a lot of it could be characterized as economic development or tourism promotion. A lot of the money goes to county fairs, convention bureaus and to organizations that provide medical care and disease research and education.

"Some of these programs may be very worthwhile," says John Tillman, director of the Illinois Policy Institute. "But when the state has $5 billion, as of Dec. 31, in unpaid bills to state vendors providing human services and other services to the people of Illinois, we think some of these items should be eliminated from the spending plan."

The Piglet Book's author, Nicole Kurokowa, particularly addressed $73,992 for the American Lung Association of Illinois: "That's a good cause, but that's a cause that should be funded by private donors," she said.

A lot of the "waste" in the Piglet Book will be viewed by others as part of deals that produced overall gains for the state, such as the promotion of trout fishing.

The full report is available by CLICKING HERE (pdf document).

(Illinois Radio Network)
02 15 10 by Newsroom
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