By M.D. Kittle | Wisconsin Reporter MADISON — “If not now, when?” State Rep. Chris Taylor, D-Madison, urgently posed that question to would-be supporters ofKathleen Falk, former Dane County executive and one of the front-running Democrats in Tuesday’s gubernatorial recall primary. “I see some people wondering whether this state is ready to elect a woman governor,” Taylor asserted in her [...]

By Andrew Thomason | Illinois Statehouse News SPRINGFIELD — Ghost employees and phantom vendors aren’t characters in the next big horror movie. Rather, they represent just two of the ways government employees can defraud taxpayers. The recent arrest of a small-town finance official accused of siphoning $30 million over the past few decades highlights just [...]

By Dustin Hurst | Watchdog.org HELENA — Last month, U.S. Sen. Jon Tester’s re-election campaign launched an attack on Tester's electoral opponent, U.S. House Rep. Denny Rehberg, accusing the congressman in two fliers of taking $30,000 in pay raises since joining the House in 2001.

By Yael Ossowski | Florida Watchdog TAMPA — The number 537 forever will be burned in the minds of Florida legislators.   After 35 days of fumbled recounts, disappearing ballots and deliberations by the U.S. Supreme Court, the weight of the 2000 presidential election came down to that tiny fraction of ballots — 537.

By Gene Meyer | Kansas Reporter FAIRWAY — The reports are in.   We promise, say three Kansas entities that got about $453,000 in federal stimulus — or American Recovery and Reinvestment Act — grants.