Brad McMillan — the guy who, at a public meeting, falsely accused me of spreading misinformation — has been appointed to the Illinois Executive Ethics Commission. As a commissioner, he will get $36,000 of our tax money. That’s a typical full-time annual salary for working men and women across Illinois. What do you think he’ll have to do to acquire that much of our hard-earned money?

Answer: Attend twelve meetings per year. That’s right. “Ethics” commissioners get $36,000 a year for the punishing job of attending one meeting a month to conduct hearings, prepare information materials, provide guidance, and receive reports — you know, the kinds of things that local planning and zoning commissioners do for free.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate in Illinois is 10%, and state funding for schools is second to last in the nation. But we have $36,000 to hand over to the politically connected to judge the ethics of others.

Paying a state commissioner a year’s salary for a few hours of work is an outrage. Making such expenditures to the already employed in the middle of a recession/depression is downright immoral. But evidently, it’s ethical… at least, according to Illinois.