This week, I took to the House floor to shine a light on yet another example of government inefficiency—the Illinois Commission on Equity and Inclusion. Created with the promise of expanding opportunity and improving access to state contracts, the commission has instead grown into a costly bureaucracy that is falling short of its mission. With highly paid commissioners, six-figure staff salaries, and a growing budget, taxpayers are left funding a system that is making it harder—not easier—to do business with their own government. At a time when Illinois families are struggling under high costs and heavy tax burdens, it is long past time to demand accountability and real results from every agency in state government.
Brad
This week I highlighted serious concerns with the Illinois Commission on Equity and Inclusion, questioning whether the agency is fulfilling its mission and delivering results for taxpayers. Citing recent reporting from The Center Square, I raised concerns about the commission’s long-term effectiveness and growing costs.
The commission was created to increase access to state contracts, expand opportunity for entrepreneurs and Illinois businesses, and bring more vendors into the state procurement process. Instead, the agency has become another example of the government failing to achieve its purpose.
I raised the following specific concerns in my remarks: “Seven commissioners, appointed and paid well into six figures. Staff salaries averaging around or above $100,000. A budget that continues to grow. So let’s put this plainly: Illinois taxpayers are funding a system that is making it harder — not easier — for people to do business with their own government.”
The commission’s continued lack of results should prompt accountability and a serious review of its performance, rather than excuses for continued growth in spending and bureaucracy.
“The people of Illinois deserve results, not more bureaucracy. If fewer vendors are participating, access is getting harder, and outcomes are moving in the wrong direction, then we need accountability — because taxpayers should not be funding a commission that is failing to do what it was created to do.”
Saying that we should move if we don’t like the high taxes and radical social policies of your party while standing in front of a tractor is the epitome of arrogance. Farmers, more than anyone else, are tied to immovable land that is their families tradition and livelihood.
“Governor Pritzker just described exactly what’s wrong with illinois. Higher prices are being driven by higher spending, bigger government, and policies that continue to increase the cost of living. But instead of telling families to pack up and leave, we should be focused on making Illinois more a affordable State to live in.
Let’s start by lowering the state budget, let’s prioritize responsible spending and let’s finally give property taxpayers the relief that they have been waiting for.”
Recently, a masked gunman randomly shot at a group of young adults hanging out on a pier at Rogers Park in Chicago. 18-year-old Sheridan Gorman was brutally murdered as a result of this violence.
Authorities swiftly tracked down Jose Medina-Medina (an illegal immigrant from Venezuela, under the Biden Administration) with the aid of facial recognition software. Without the biometric reading software, capturing the suspect would have been delayed and may have easily led to additional serious crimes being committed.
Now, Illinois Democrats are pushing HB 5521 which would prohibit all law enforcement agencies from using biometric identification systems which, by the way, includes fingerprints. The bill, not surprisingly, is backed by the ACLU and is designed to protect ILLEGAL immigrants.
Read More On The Police Tech HERE
Goose-stepping right alongside Illinois’ Supermajority Democrat Party is Chicago’s mayor, Brandon Johnson. He is more concerned about illegal immigrants feeling safe than Illinois citizens being assaulted and murdered.
Democrats’ outrageous support for criminals is beyond appalling!!
We’re being told by Illinois Democrats that parents shouldn’t be allowed to choose where their children go to school or how they should be educated.
So WHO exactly should be deciding?
They are mandating that a mysterious ‘someone’ should be given the authority to decide how our children are taught to read, which books they should read, computer screens vs. text books, paper and pencil vs. apps, time spent on math, time spent on science, time spent on social-emotional learning, art and music…the list goes on.
Not all decisions that are being made are bad ones, and public education requires common norms, but the fact is, state by state, lawmakers are deciding whether or not parents should have a say in how their children are educated.
Illinois is completely stripping parents and families of that freedom of choice!
They are being forced to live inside other people’s choices.
It has recently come to light that the state’s 2026 budget includes a $500,000 grant to a group named ‘Goal Digger Divas United’. They lost their IRS non-profit status in 2024, but have since regained it. Their totally vague ‘mission statement’ claims to “bring awareness to women, children, families and communities of the importance of making healthy lifestyle changes”.
How inspiring.
Who is really reaping the benefits from this Springfield legislative gift?
Read The Illinois Policy Report HERE
If you log onto the Divas’ website, you will notice that it is jam-packed with meaningless gobbledygook, and there is NO mention of any kind of leadership or financial structure:
The Court wants a federal judge to declare that they have the authority to remove a Cook County judge because he authored a column (WHEN HE WAS NOT A JUDGE) which expressed support for President Trump.
Political oppression anyone??
Cook County Judge James R. Brown filed a lawsuit against the Illinois Supreme Court accusing them of ‘trampling his official rights as a judge and his constitutional speech rights as a citizen, by weaponizing Illinois’ judicial conduct code against him to suppress his speech and punish him for supporting’ President Trump.
On April 3, attorneys from the office of Democrat Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul filed a motion in Chicago federal court, seeking to toss out Judge Brown’s lawsuit.
Read About This Judicial Overreach HERE
Currently, Cook County is sounding the alarm, but this issue affects all Illinoisans.
We are painfully aware that our state has obscene property taxes. That said, by freezing property values in specific areas, local governments can use tax-increment financing (TIF) districts to artificially manipulate who pays the levy, eventually leading to effective property tax hikes.
In Chicago’s case, TIFs have created a slush fund for the city. In the past decade the amount of TIF money Chicago has declared as “surplus” has increased nearly ninefold, from $113 million in 2016 to just over $1 billion for fiscal 2026. The 2026 surplus went to help close a recklessly created budget gap.
Once the money is declared surplus, that money can be redistributed to the area’s taxing bodies, such as schools and parks, effectively allowing the city to “sweep” that “surplus” TIF revenue into general use.
Got it?.
Lawmakers need to add special requirements for TIF districts!
Do you know what’s going on in your town?
America has its fair share of larger-than-life legends!
But from war heroes to chemists to farmers, this article remembers some of those brave men and women who left behind somewhat quieter but equally powerful legacies:
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