A couple of weeks ago, we filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Illinois Department of Transportation for records relating to use of the state’s airplane.
We wanted to know who’s flown on the plane, how much it’s cost and where they traveled.
This past Thursday, we received the records from Barbara Brush, IDOT’s FOIA officer. The plane log came back to us in an Excel spreadsheet, which we’ve also played with: We’ve sorted the data to show who’s racked up the biggest tab on the plane.
We have also made it possible to sort the data so that you can check out all the riders.
You can review the data here:
It’s no surprise that
has racked up the most miles on the state’s aircraft (a grand total of 58,919). He’s followed by
(31,386, more than 25,000 fewer miles than Quinn) and
(26,028 miles).
The list is populated by officials in various state offices like the
, the
Department of Healthcare and Family Services
and the
.
There are six elected officials in the top 20 flyers: besides Quinn and Cullerton, there’s
,
and
.
In all, nearly 1,500 different government officials rode the plane for a grand total of 2,630,837 miles in the past three years, from Jan. 1, 2010 through Jan. 1, 2013.
They spent $1,928,045, according to the data we received.
The state’s “aeronautics operations” have come under fire in the past from the Office of the Auditor General. The state auditor released a report in January 2007 slamming the flight program for inefficiencies and a lack of transparency. (Read that report
)
Here’s where you come in: We’d like to invite you, dear reader, to review the data and let us know if you spot anything unusual or any funky names. Please get in touch, too, if you’ve flown on the plane and have any good stories to tell: gregoryroyalpratt[AT]gmail.com.
