Transparency needed in wake of Plainfield Park District corruption charges

Time and time again, local taxing bodies in Illinois fail to understand the importance of transparency until after a corruption scandal hits. The latest cautionary tale of public corruption comes from Plainfield Park District, where a whole host of unethical activities has led to the resignation of the executive director, calls for a resignation from...

Time and time again, local taxing bodies in Illinois fail to understand the importance of transparency until after a corruption scandal hits.

The latest cautionary tale of public corruption comes from Plainfield Park District, where a whole host of unethical activities has led to the resignation of the executive director, calls for a resignation from the board president and an investigation by the Will County State’s Attorney.

Here’s a look at some of the recent allegations against the staff and board of Plainfield Park District.

• Conflicts of interest
  • LED lights purchased by park district from company connected to Board President Peter Hurtado
  • Suspicious checks to companies with ties to the former Plainfield Park District Executive Director Garrett Peck
• Credit-card abuse
  • Inappropriate use of employee credit card expenditures to politically connected companies
• Nepotism
  • Hiring relatives of board members

A lack of transparency and corruption often go hand in hand. Therefore, it should be no surprise that Plainfield Park District failed the Illinois Policy Institute’s online transparency audit based on the Institute’s 10-Point Transparency Checklist. Plainfield Park District scored only a 28.5 percent out of a possible 100.

As with other communities that have faced public corruption scandals, Plainfield Park District failed to implement important safeguards that would give the public the opportunity to hold government accountable and prevent corruption.

For example, Plainfield Park District failed to score any points in the expenditures and compensation categories of the 10-Point Transparency Checklist, missing a prime opportunity to discourage or expose potential cases of improper payments to vendors and nepotism in hiring.

Plainfield Park District’s corruption scandal reinforces the idea that local governments in Illinois should be required to post basic information online. Plainfield Park District received more than $163,000 in revenues from the state in fiscal year 2013.

Last year, House Bill 3312 was introduced to require local governments with budgets of more than $1 million to have websites and to post basic information online. A similar bill will be introduced this year.

Online transparency is one of the greatest deterrents to public corruption. Unfortunately, too many taxing bodies in Illinois don’t learn this lesson until after a corruption scandal hits.