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Andy Shaw from the Chicago Sun-Times bga
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Andy Shaw Biography

Andy Shaw is an award-winning Chicago journalist, and president and CEO of the Better Government Association . The BGA is a nonprofit and nonpartisan watchdog …Read More

 

More Columns

  • Ill. integrity laws better than most

    ‘Integrity” is not a word we generally associate with state government in Illinois, Rhode Island, New Jersey and Louisiana. “Corruption” is a more likely answer on a multiple-choice test, based on the sheer volume of high-visibility scandals involving their top public officials. But counterintuitive as …Read More

    • Some begging for inspector general

    Here’s a basic tenet from Watchdog 101: The office of inspector general is one of government’s best anti-corruption tools, but only if it has authority, resources, independence and integrity. And those are big ifs. For instance, Chicago’s IG, Joe Ferguson, is considered the gold standard, …

    Big Brother aims at free press

    Government officials from the White House to the field house, and every public building in between, often react to probing questions from investigative journalists and civic watchdogs with exaggerated levels of irritation normally reserved for invasions of swarming gnats at picnics. The give-and-take is inherently …

    Taxpayers deserve ‘golden parachute’

    ‘Golden parachutes” may ensure soft, comfortable landings for high-level officials as they float down from lofty government jobs, but those excessive severance packages drop like lead balloons on the backs of taxpayers who get crushed by the cost. Big bye-bye bonuses are especially offensive when …

    Legal fights waste your tax money

    ‘You catch more flies with honey than vinegar.” An adage that’s certainly true in some cases but not, unfortunately, in the watchdog business in Illinois. Sometimes saying “pretty please” to government officials gets you zip. So organizations like the Better Government Association have to brandish …

    Pension deal must address abuses

    Illinois lawmakers are returning to Springfield on Wednesday for a special session on the pension crisis. They’re searching for a plan that’s fiscally sound, constitutional, politically palatable and capable of winning passage in the Legislature. So far they haven’t found it, which is no surprise …

    A good day for justice in Illinois

    Lost in the chorus of catcalls from the pundits after Springfield’s colossal failure to agree on pension reform or gaming expansion or marriage equality — big issues that could have been resolved but weren’t — is a smattering of applause for a few things our …

    Secret deal from Daley boosted fire chief’s pension by $27,000 a year

    THE WATCHDOGS: For two years, Raymond Orozco Jr. led the Chicago Fire Department as fire commissioner. But when it came time to calculate the city fire pension he now gets, Orozco got credit for four years in that position under a potentially lucrative secret deal engineered by the Daley administration, a Chicago Sun-Times / Better Government Association investigation has found.The difference? For now, it’s about $27,000 a year in Orozco’s pocket. Over his lifetime, it could amount to an additional $800,000.

    No feeling the love on parking meters

    Mayor Emanuel’s negotiators are looking for some love as they argue for City Council approval of the concessions they wrung out of the loathsome parking meter contract. They’re especially proud to have driven down the cost of compensation for out-of-service meters by more than a …

    Election reform boring? Not really

    What do these terms have in common: Debt ceiling, unfunded liability, sequester, infrastructure and filibuster? They’re important public policy issues, but they’re also “government speak,” so our eyes glaze over when we hear them. In real time they’re numbers with lots of zeroes, projects with …

    City job safe, despite felony convictions, after Quinn pardon

    When Gov. Pat Quinn pardoned a politically connected city of Chicago health department official in late 2011, he didn’t just erase Juan Elias’ rap sheet, which included convictions for marijuana possession, burglary and vote fraud. The pardon also kept Elias, who heads 1st Ward Ald. Joe Moreno’s political organization, safely in the $78,828-a-year city job that he got after after failing to disclose on his job application that he had a criminal past.

    Spare us the snarky CTA emails

    The CTA is big news these days as transit officials begin the massive, and massively disruptive, Red Line overhaul on the South Side. We’re told the short-term construction pain will beget long-term commuter gain in the form of faster, cleaner L rides. Let’s hope so. …

    Some scams scamming less

    One of the public’s beefs with the media is that newspapers and TV stations don’t follow up on enough of their stories. A scandal or controversy makes a big splash when it hits the airwaves or the front page, and then, poof, it disappears like …

    Pols violate intent of law

    Several colleagues called recently to question the propriety of last Monday night’s fund-raising frenzy in Springfield, where state lawmakers headed into the final month of the Spring legislative session with an appeal for campaign cash from lobbyists and special-interest groups at more than 20 separate …

    Don’t keep Midway plans in shadows

    Spinning off some or all of Midway Airport to private investors is a high-flying topic that many civic-minded Chicagoans are eager to discuss, debate and learn more about, especially in the wake of that ignominious disaster known as the parking meter deal. For instance, the …

    Maywood miracle gives us hope

    ‘Do you believe in miracles? Yes!!” That was sportscaster Al Michaels’ rhapsodic riff when the U.S. hockey team beat the heavily favored Soviets at the 1980 Winter Olympics. And it came to mind the morning after the suburban Cook County elections on April 9 when …

    Let’s not be hasty with gaming bill

    Hold ’em or fold ’em? Walk away or run? That’s what country singer Kenny Rogers ponders in “The Gambler,” his iconic song about the choices we face at the gaming table and, by inference, in life. Well pardner, it’s decision time here in Illinois as …

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