{"id":2214448,"date":"2024-04-06T14:00:08","date_gmt":"2024-04-06T18:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/government-accountability-on-back-burner-as-ag-makes-excuses-legislator-says\/"},"modified":"2024-04-06T14:05:12","modified_gmt":"2024-04-06T18:05:12","slug":"government-accountability-on-back-burner-as-ag-makes-excuses-legislator-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/government-accountability-on-back-burner-as-ag-makes-excuses-legislator-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Legislator criticizes AG for putting government accountability on the back burner with excuses"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fgovernment-accountability-on-back-burner-as-ag-makes-excuses-legislator-says%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2214448&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>State Rep. Amy Elik criticizes the Illinois Attorney \u2062General for neglecting <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-kills-trump-budget-cuts-totaling-27-4-billion\/\" title=\"Biden Kills Trump Budget Cuts Totaling .4 Billion\">government accountability<\/a> amid\u2064 a rise in constituent concerns about delays in addressing Freedom of \u2064Information Act and Open Meetings \u2062Act violations. The backlog, attributed to staff turnover, has led to about 1,523\u200b pending requests. Attorney General Raoul \u2064seeks a modest \u200bbudget increase to address the situation. State Rep.\u200b Amy Elik calls out Illinois Attorney\u2064 General for overlooking government accountability\u200d issues amidst delays in handling FOIA and OMA violations. With 1,523 pending requests due to staff turnover, AG Raoul requests a slight budget boost to tackle the backlog\u200b and improve the response time.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>(The Center Square) \u2013 A state lawmaker says the Illinois attorney general is \u201cmaking an excuse\u201d when it comes to government accountability. <\/p>\n<p>State Rep. Amy Elik, R-Alton, said her office saw an increase in constituents reaching out to inquire about the time it takes to address either a Freedom of Information Act or Open Meetings Act violation allegation. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you do have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/native-americans-protest-construction-of-canadian-pipeline-in-minn\/\" title=\"Native Americans protest construction of Canadian pipeline in Minn.\">increased volume<\/a>, it\u2019s especially important to stick to your goals and guidelines and make sure you are answering the public in a timely manner, and not using an excuse of increased volume to let those responses lag,\u201d Elik said. <\/p>\n<p>When a taxpayer requests information from a taxing body, the agency has five business days to respond. If a request is not satisfied, the taxpayer can file a complaint about the alleged FOIA violation with the public access counselor, which is funded and operated through the AG\u2019s office.  <\/p>\n<p>According to the Open Meetings Act, it is the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/report-so-many-people-are-fleeing-california-they-may-lose-a-house-seat-and-electoral-college-vote\/\" title=\"REPORT: So Many People Are Fleeing California They May Lose A House Seat And Electoral College Vote\">public policy<\/a> of Illinois that public bodies exist to aid in the conduct of the people\u2019s business and that the people have a right to be informed as to the conduct of their business. If a taxpayer feels the OMA has been violated, they can\u00a0file a complaint about the alleged OMA violation with the PAC.<\/p>\n<p>When asked if his office would consider a standard when addressing FOIA\/OMA violation allegations, Raoul said it\u2019d be challenging to do something like that. Raoul attributed the backlog to staff fluctuation. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not a flat number of requests that come in from year to year, yet our staffing level may maintain a certain level and sometimes we lose people,\u201d said Raoul. <\/p>\n<p>In 2023, the PAC received 3,810 formal requests for assistance pursuant to the Illinois FOIA and Open Meetings Act. Right now, about 1,523 requests are backlogged, according to the PAC.<\/p>\n<p>Raoul said his increased budget request is more conservative in comparison to recent years. Last fiscal year, the office received $96 million in general funding from taxpayers. This year, Raoul said his office is requesting an increase of $2.25 million. <\/p>\n<p>Elik said citizens in her district, specifically Madison County, periodically file requests to the Attorney General\u2019s Office to review OMA violations or they disagree with the contents of a FOIA response that has been returned to them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThose things seem to take a very long time. I know of one case that took about three years to get an answer back from the Public Access Counselor. So my question is, have you improved, is it getting better and what can we expect for backlogs?\u201d Elik said. <\/p>\n<p>The PAC said the office has faced a steady increase in requests, \u201ca more than 25% increase from the end of 2021 to the end of 2023.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe office has increased staffing in each of the past three years to address the increasing number of requests,\u201d the office said in an email to The Center Square. <\/p>\n<p>Elik suggested the office create a backlog standard to meet. Raoul said that would be a challenge to implement. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile we have strategic goals throughout our office to improve, to measure and to have accountability, it\u2019s not always easy to predict the caseload we will have in a particular year. So getting a goal [meeting a backlog standard] based on an unpredictable number is challenging,\u201d said Raoul. <\/p>\n<p>Elik suggested maybe going off a percentage basis. As an example, of the 1,523 requests that are on backlog, processing 25% of those requests at a minimum. The office would, hypothetically, have to resolve 228 of those by the end of the year. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cBefore Attorney General Raoul was in office, the number of open PAC requests for review hit 2,911. By the end of his second year in office, the PAC had reduced that number by 47% to 1,523, and the office has continued to keep the number of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/new-program-claims-to-help-with-the-growing-border-crisis\/\" title=\"New program claims to help with the growing border crisis\">open cases<\/a> below the level seen when Attorney General Raoul was sworn into office,\u201d the office said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>Raoul touts bringing in revenue through other enforcement actions. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn just the last year, my office generated $1 billion in revenue,\u201d Raoul told a House committee. \u201cWhile this is a decrease from prior years, I think the last time I was before you I told you in that fiscal year 2022, for every dollar spent from [general revenue funds] on the Attorney General\u2019s Office, we returned $39 to the GRF. This year, there\u2019s been a decline. For every dollar spent, we returned $17 and 55 cents.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Illinois lawmaker criticizes Attorney General for dodging government accountability scrutiny. State Rep. Amy Elik, R-Alton, notes uptick in constituents questioning delays in addressing Freedom of Information Act and Open Meetings Act issues<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2214449,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP23293582244211-1024x683.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2214448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP23293582244211-1024x683.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2214448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2214448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2214448\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2214449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2214448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2214448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2214448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}