Hoffman Condemns Wasteful Spending at State Agency

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – State Rep. Jay Hoffman, D-Swansea, recently introduced a resolution condemning the misuse of thousands of taxpayer dollars that has occurred at the Illinois Department of Innovation and Technology.

“While the state is in the midst of a historic budget impasse, frivolous and wasteful spending like what occurred at the Department of Innovation and Technology is absolutely unacceptable,” Hoffman said. “Instead of spending money on professional subscriptions for career bureaucrats, we need to prioritize funding for our schools and vital social services that have been hit hardest by this budget impasse.”

Hoffman’s House Resolution 358 is in response to recent media reports about the Department of Innovation and Technology spending $208,000 in taxpayer funds on annual membership costs for two professional subscriptions. The large expense has been defended by the agency’s secretary, Hardik Bhatt, who is paid $145,000 a year in taxpayer dollars. The Department of Innovation and Technology is a state agency that was created under an executive order by Gov. Bruce Rauner, and is not subject to any form of legislative oversight.

“Gov. Rauner created this agency with no input from the legislature, and his hand-picked Chief Information Office is grossly mismanaging taxpayer dollars,” Hoffman said. “The governor needs to order Bhatt to immediately cancel the subscriptions and work toward making his pet agency more transparent and accountable.”