Simon's income dropped during race
SPRINGFIELD — Illinois Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon saw her income drop by nearly one-third last year as she ran for office, according to tax returns she provided Wednesday ahead of a push to strengthen disclosure of officials' economic ties.
Simon's income tax returns show she and her husband, Perry Knopp, made $109,933 in 2010, down from $153,000 a year earlier. She attributed that to taking a leave from teaching law at Southern Illinois University so she could campaign.
"Nine months with no income from me. We pinched a few pennies along the way," Simon said in an interview with The Associated Press, adding that she dipped into money set aside for her children's college tuition.
"Our daughters are eager to have us replace those funds," she said.
Returns show the Simons owed $14,128 in state and federal taxes and donated nearly $2,000 to charity.
Simon provided the tax information a day before an event where she plans to call for better disclosure of officials' economic interests.
The Carbondale Democrat said current disclosure forms are too vague. She wants to replace them with forms modeled after the documents that federal officials must fill out.
Right now, Illinois officials don't have to disclose their stake in a company unless it does business with the state. That doesn't tell taxpayers whether, for instance, an official pushing for a new road owns property where the road would be built, Simon said.
"Those are things voters ought to be able to check out with their own eyes," she said.
Simon said she'll be working with legislators and government watchdogs to improve disclosure rules, although she conceded it might not happen during the remaining six weeks of the spring legislative session.
Gov. Pat Quinn's office said he plans to release his latest tax returns later this week.
Returns were an issue in last year's race for governor and lieutenant governor.
Quinn and Simon both released their returns to the public. The Republican nominee for governor, Bill Brady, initially refused to disclose his but later offered limited access to the documents, which showed he didn't owe any federal taxes the past two years.
Brady's running mate, Jason Plummer, never made his returns public.