Illinois Auditor General Bill Holland announced his intention to step down as the state’s chief fiscal watchdog on December 31. Auditor General Holland has held the position for 23 years and has been a well-respected staple of Illinois government during the tenure of five Governors.
Holland’s January 2009 testimony during the Senate trial of former Governor Rod Blagojevich was seen as key to the now-felon’s eventual removal from office. Holland’s service to the people of Illinois was especially critical during the Blagojevich administration’s six years of abject fiscal failure.
His office also handled the more recent audits of the now infamous NRI-scandal, in which former Governor Pat Quinn’s administration handed out $55 million in state grants as part of his questionable and poorly managed crime reduction initiative. In 2014, Holland released a scathing audit of the program that Quinn launched prior to the 2010 election for Governor. Since that time there have been several criminal grand jury probes into the NRI program, as well as a legislative audit of NRI.