Government must be streamlined

Yes, Illinois government could operate more efficiently. Structurally, Illinois government is designed to be inefficient.

Illinois has more units of government than other states, e.g. townships and school districts. The Illinois House is too large with too many representatives and staffers, and congressional districts misaligned structurally through political gerrymandering (like Aurora's four districts.) The Illinois Senate has too many committees.

Congressional leaders, paid as elected (part-time) representatives often have a law practice or full time government job, causing conflicts of interest.

Illinois' House and Senate need to consider government restructuring actions. Actions could include: phasing out township governmental units with counties serving unincorporated areas; consolidating school districts to optimize facilities, staffing and administration; redistricting congressional representation outlawing gerrymandering and expanding geographic coverage of a district to reduce the number of representatives by 50 percent; restoring the Senate committee structure to half of present levels for better focus, accountability and savings; and rewarding certain congressional leadership roles as full-time employment during their elected terms, providing fair compensation while requiring leaders to take leave or resign from other governmental employment to devote full time while serving their leadership obligations.

Urge your congressional representatives to embrace fundamental restructuring changes to deal with the root causes of inefficiency in Illinois government.

By restructuring government and making government more transparent, such as with an effective revamped Freedom of Information Act, government officials can be held accountable so Illinois taxpayers financing government services for the 13 million residents will be better served.

Mike Tennis

Sleepy Hollow