SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — Republican Darren Bailey says there will be more transparency surrounding the state's budget process if he becomes governor. WAND News spoke with Bailey's running mate Monday to learn about their ideas to follow the money and review funds given to non-governmental groups.

Bailey frequently says Illinois needs to cut down on spending, but the Republican also argues voters have no idea how their hard-earned money is spent each year.

The Bailey campaign told WAND News the recent indictment of Rep. Carol Ammons (D-Urbana) is the perfect example of corruption between lawmakers and non-governmental organizations.

"$18.5 billion runs through a grant process here in Illinois," said IL GOP Lt. Governor candidate Aaron Del Mar. "You're seeing some of that corruption already in central Illinois with Rep. Ammons and how she was able to direct NGO, non-governmental organization, dollars to benefit her own family."

Ammons faces charges of wire fraud, receiving kickbacks from unlawful payments made from her campaign account and taking payments from nonprofits she helped get state grant funding. Del Mar said non-governmental organizations should be subject to Freedom of Information Act requests if they receive public dollars.

"A government agency that spends our taxpayer dollars has to be able to release this information if we request it," Del Mar said. "Why aren't the vendors and subcontractors that we give millions and billions of dollars required to do the same thing?"

The Bailey campaign is also calling for an online database showing every NGO receiving state funds. This dashboard would show how the groups are picked, how much money was allocated and if the funds are spent.

"That accountability is something that Illinois needs," Del Mar added. "It will hold everybody to that standard and it will automatically reduce a lot of the fraud and waste because people would know it's up for public scrutiny."

The Pritzker campaign told WAND News Bailey is a hypocrite who wants to bring Donald Trump's cronyism and chaos to the state, including by "DOGEing" Illinois. 

"There's no person less qualified to demand transparency than a MAGA Republican who can't bring himself to demand accountability from his own party," said Pritzker campaign spokesperson Alex Gough.

The Pritzker campaign also noted there is a wide variety of government accountability measures in Illinois, including the Auditor General, annual government accountability and transparency report, Office of the Executive Inspector General, Legislative Audit Commission and Attorney General, among others.

Independent gubernatorial candidate Collin Corbett said Bailey is pushing an unserious solution to a real problem. Corbett told WAND News non-governmental organizations are private entities, and subjecting them to FOIA could open a massive can of worms.

"Darren Bailey is fine subjecting entities he does not like to FOIA, but does he really want government and the public getting access to internal operations, donor lists and private communications from community charities, business associations, or local churches?" Corbett asked. "Not to mention, this is likely unconstitutional, going back to that landmark 1958 Supreme Court decision in NAACP v. Alabama."

Corbett said he would freeze discretionary spending in his first budget and put in place transparent accountability standards that measure the impact of our tax dollars. He explained lawmakers could then work with him to use these standards to strengthen programs that improve people's lives and fix or phase out programs that don't. 

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