Full Stack Strategies

My friends,

Thank you for your time today (October 21, 2026) and letting an alumnus visit with you about how to follow the money that influences state and local elections. I hope you take our discussion today with you into fulfilling public service careers and many years of active community service. My friends (and opponents) and I in Springfield are counting on you.

A copy of my presentation materials is available here. As promised, please find below a directory of resources for you to consider.

How Government Works

Knowing the law, government processes, and practical implications of public policy is vital to understanding how we practice our societal values.

• The Constitution of the State of Illinois: Illinois adopted its current Constitution in 1970. It has since been amended via a ballot initiative and through legislative-initiated referendums. An annotated version is available through the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability.
• The Illinois Compiled Statutes: The laws of the State of Illinois.
• The Illinois Administrative Code: The rules, definitions, and policies adopted by the Joint Commission on Administrative Rules to guide the implementation of state government operating procedures.
• The Legislative Process in Illinois: A summary of how bills and resolutions become state law.
• Political Candidates Guides: The Illinois State Board of Elections issues reference manuals so that candidates elected office have a guideline of the rules, regulations, and deadlines governing elections in Illinois. There are currently TWO active election cycles in Illinois:
  • The 2026 General Election ending at 7 p.m. November 3, 2026, and
  • The 2027 Consolidated Primary (February 23, 2027) and General (April 6, 2027) elections.
• Illinois Tax Law Summarized for Legislators: This might be my favorite reference material in state government. Illinois has one of the most expansive, complicated tax structures in the United States. This publication from the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability is routinely updated as policymakers amend the Illinois Revenue Code, and it provides a more plain language description of how taxes and fees are administered in Illinois.

Campaign Finance Data

Here are three political campaign finance databases using the data we discussed today in class:

• Illinois State Board of Elections (ISBE): Every candidate, political activity committee, political party, and independent expenditure committee that collects and spends money to influence Illinois state and local elections are required to file regular financial disclosure reports with ISBE. This data is publicly accessible online or in-person at ISBE offices in Chicago and Springfield.
• Federal Elections Commission (FEC): Political committees impacting federal elections (U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate, President & Vice President) are governed by a campaign disclosure and reporting requirements set by federal law.
• OpenBook.illinoiscomptroller.GOV: This application is fairly nuanced, and, admittedly, I have a personal connection to it (shameless self-plug #1), but it allows for comprehensive searches against quarterly campaign finance data maintained by ISBE and accounting details of goods and services provider contracts, including grant programs, awarded by Illinois state government. The application was first unveiled during then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration. Functionality was restored and expanded in 2016.

Following the Money in Illinois Government

Though most of our time today was spent on money in political campaigns, I hope your pursuit of truth does not stop when polls close on Election Day. Campaigning for political office is hard. Governing is harder. The products of one heavily influence the decisions made by the other, for better and for worse.

Perhaps some day I will have an opportunity to talk with you about Illinois state appropriations and fiscal management (shameless self-plug #2). In the meantime, consider these resources as your time and travel allows:

• Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability (COGFA): The Commission is an office within the Illinois Legislative branch charged with providing the General Assembly provides nonpartisan, objective, documented, and timely information. In addition to the media listed in previous sections, some of the most prominent resources they produce include:
  • A Monthly Briefing on the Illinois economy, state government revenues and expenditures, and fiscal policy issues COGFA analysts are closely monitoring: https://cgfa.ilga.gov/Resource.aspx?id=2.
  • Regular state and local government revenue forecasts: https://cgfa.ilga.gov/Resource.aspx?id=3
  • Recommendations on whether the Executive branch may proceed with closing state facilities, such as the Choate Development Center in Anna, Ill.: https://cgfa.ilga.gov/Resource.aspx?id=7.
• Illinois Office of the Comptroller (IOC): The Comptroller is an Executive branch political officer elected every four years by the people of Illinois to serve as the Chief Fiscal Officer of Illinois state government. Every State of Illinois monetary transaction must be recorded and executed by the Comptroller according to law. The Comptroller even directs the Treasurer, the state’s elected Chief Investment Officer, how to move money within the state treasury. As such, the Office of the Comptroller maintains the most robust repository of data on Illinois state finances – our revenues, our expenditures, our outstanding financial obligations. Many of the searchable IOC datasets require a thorough understanding of the State Finance Code and generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) to fully interpret. However, there are a few resources the general public can pick-up fairly quickly:
  • A list of all funds in the state treasury, a description of why the account exists, and how much cash it has available: https://illinoiscomptroller.gov/financial-reports-data/data-sets-portals/fund-search.
  • Comptroller’s Quarterly report includes budgetary data and a textual summary of state finances prepared by the IOC Division of Research & Fiscal Information: https://office.illinoiscomptroller.gov/ComptrollersQuarterly/.
  • A searchable database of state employee salaries: https://illinoiscomptroller.gov/financial-reports-data/data-sets-portals/salary-database.
  • A searchable database of grants and contracts awarded by the State of Illinois for goods and services: https://illinoiscomptroller.gov/financial-reports-data/find-a-report/state-contracts.
• Illinois Department of Revenue (IDOR): It cannot be overstated how much our public finance structures depend on this administrative department within the Illinois Executive branch. Most of the consumption and income taxes collected on behalf of Illinois state and local governments pass through its systems before being deposited in the state treasury and distributed according to law. As such, IDOR has an impressive collection of state and local tax statistics, including:
  • A list of every tax rate when the tax collection and distribution is administered by IDOR: https://tax.illinois.gov/research/taxrates.html.
  • Tax revenues collected and distributed to Illinois local governments: https://tax.illinois.gov/localgovernments/statistics.html.
  • State and local tax receipts by the type of tax: https://tax.illinois.gov/research/taxinformation.html.
• Governor’s Office of Management and Budget (GOMB): GOMB is the state government administrative unit that oversees fiscal operations among the many Executive branch departments and commissions that report to the Governor. It’s GOMB staff who are responsible for preparing the Governor’s annual state budget proposals and the materials the State of Illinois needs to issue bonds. Although the Comptroller is responsible for keeping the government’s official ledger, GOMB has in recent years produced a more comprehensive spreadsheet detailing every line in Illinois’s enacted operating and capital budgets. Consider this asset an important reference tool when your research involves modeling and determining how much budget authority state government has for its programs and services. The “FY26 Final and FY27 Enacted Appropriations by Line Item” available from GOMB does well to complement queries against Comptroller expenditure data.
• Illinois Local Government Audits and Financial Reports: Illinois is home to more than 8,500 units of local government – by far more than any other state in the union. By law, these governments – everything from the small, special purpose districts to the City of Chicago – must file with the State Comptroller a copy of their annual audits and Annual Financial Reports (AFR). Since 2013, the Comptroller has made those filings publicly available and searchable: https://illinoiscomptroller.gov/constituent-services/local-government/local-government-warehouse.

Conclusion

Remember that money does not vote, but it can certainly influence those who can.

Whether that influence is merit-based or full of “creative liberties” is up to we, the People. As you “follow the money” and engage electoral processes, I hope you consider a mantra shared with me by the late Bill Recktenwald, a former investigative reporter, Chicago Tribune editor, and faculty member at the SIU School of Journalism:

Paper leads to paper.
Paper leads to people.
People lead to people.
People lead to paper.

Stay hungry. Stay curious. Stay involved.

Go Dawgs ~btl

Barton Lorimor
SIUC Class of 2011
Daily Egyptian (2007 – 2009)
Paul Simon Public Policy Institute (2009 – 2011)

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