Illinois Lt. Gov. Simon “beyond gold” in transparency

The Illinois Campaign for Political Reform stood proudly with Illinois’ Lt.  Gov. Sheila Simon as she not only released her own financial statements, but issued a challenge to other elected officials to offer detailed information on their finances.

“I want to lead by example and I want to inspire better government. Mostly what I want to do is start a conversation about how we make this a standard going forward,” Simon told the Chicago Tribune.

The Lieutenant Governor also issued an Executive Order banning her staff from accepting meals from lobbyists and her campaign from taking contributions from employes of statewide officers.

ICPR’s Deputy Director David Morrison said they are unaware of any other constitutional officer offering up an “insanely detailed” account of their personal finances to the public.

“What she is putting out here is a remarkable display of disclosure,” Morrison said. “This is beyond gold standard. I wouldn’t say that everyone else has to do exactly what she did to also earn applause.”

Simon is following suit from her late father, U.S. Sen. Paul Simon, who gave such a detailed account of his finances they included income from his daughter’s babysitting jobs.