Not a shock, really, that Barack Obama's home state has been rated by far the worst among the 50 states in the quality of its Web site devoted to tracking stimulus spending.
In fact, Illinios doesn't even garner a single point on a 100-point scale used to rate different sites' effectiveness.
We really, really stink.
"On a scale of zero to 100, it can't get worse than the big goose egg," the Associated Press reports. "That's the embarrassing rating Illinois received in a report released on Wednesday that concludes the state is worst in the nation when it comes to information available online about how federal stimulus money is being spent."
Most states scored poorly, to be sure, but the average mark was a 28.
Illinois's next closest competitors for "King of the Rubes" were Alabama, Kentucky and, surprisingly, Vermont.
"This site was created to help us quickly share information about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, (ARRA) so that every deserving project in Illinois can capture and use its fair share of federal stimulus funds," the Illinois site says.
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For some reason the governor's office is defending it.
"I think the Web site provides a good overview of information as it's been available," said Ashley Cross, a spokeswoman for Gov. Pat Quinn. "We do know that it's taken longer than we would have liked to get other information up. But our priority has always been to make sure the information we're publishing is accurate."
But the site is so lacking in data, according to the report, that the data's accuracy can't even be evaluated.
In addition, AP notes, "the report also assessed states from zero to 100 specifically on how well they are getting information out about stimulus spending on highways. Illinois was the only state to get a zero in both categories."
Steve Rhodes is the proprietor of The Beachwood Reporter, a Chicago-centric news and culture review.
