SPRINGFIELD, IL – Comptroller Dan Hynes today unveiled a user-friendly website that allows citizens to track political contributions made by companies that have state contracts.

"Open Book" is a searchable database of state contracts and campaign contributions that combines information from the Comptroller's accounting system with official semi-annual campaign disclosure reports filed by political committees with the State Board of Elections (SBE).

"The purpose of Open Book is to make it much easier for the public to 'follow the money,'" said Hynes. "That should make public officials more accountable to the people they serve. In turn, it is my hope that some measure of the public confidence in state government that has been lost over the years can be restored."

Hynes thanked the SBE for making its database available for Open Book. He also thanked the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, the Better Government Association and Kent Redfield, a Political Studies professor at the University of Illinois at Springfield and Director of the Sunshine Project, a campaign finance research project funded by the Joyce Foundation.

"These organizations feel as I do, that we've got to find a way to eliminate pay-to-play politics in Illinois," said Hynes. "This web site offers a strong step in that direction by letting the public follow the money."

To compare contracts to contributions, the user can go to the Comptroller's internet site at www.illinoiscomptroller.com, and click on the Open Book icon, or go directly to www.OpenBook.ioc.state.il.us. There, the user simply enters the name or partial name of the entity that conducts business with the state. The results page will then display contract and contribution information side by side for the user to analyze. One of the results options will list not only all contributions by a firm to a politician, but contributions by all employees of that firm.

Hynes called Open Book a logical extension of his ongoing fight for campaign ethics reform in state government.

In 2005, Hynes issued an Executive Order banning contributions to his campaign fund from persons or entities with more than $10,000 in contracts with the Comptroller's office. He also drafted an ethics reform bill that would have sharply curtailed pay-to-play politics in Illinois. With the help of Rep. John Fritchey, the measure was reformulated in 2006 as House Bill 1, and passed in the House by a vote of 116-0 last spring. Then it went to the Senate, where it has 46 co-sponsors, but has never been called for a vote.

"We continue to be frustrated that we can't get a ban on pay-to-play politics passed in the Legislature, but we are not giving up," said Hynes. "We're going to keep taking aggressive action like we did with the Executive Order and like we've done here today with Open Book. Granted, this website does not criminalize pay-to-play politics, as the ethics bill would. But it will put the facts and figures out in the open, for any citizen with access to a computer to see and judge for themselves."

Leading advocates for campaign finance reform praised Hynes for creating Open Book.

"It is a basic fact that more openness in the contract process leads to more honesty in the process, and this new website is a significant step in that direction," said Rep. Fritchey. "Once again, actions speak louder than words, and this is a great action by Comptroller Hynes."

"Open Book is going to shine a very bright light on the shadowy world of pay-to-play politics in Illinois state government," said Cindi Canary, Director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform. "If common sense and respect for the voters isn't enough to convince elected officials that Illinois needs pay-to-play legislation, then publicly exposing these unsavory practices is an alternate way to force a change in behavior."

"Rather than merely waiting around for legislative solutions to the problem the Comptroller has taken action to let the public see who gets contracts and who makes contributions," said Jay Stewart, Executive Director of the Better Government Association. "Now, the Governor needs to stop playing legislative games and take the next step, get House Bill 1 out of the Senate and signed into law."