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| Darlene Senger Jim Dodge |
Candidates for Illinois comptroller and treasurer want to merge the offices, effectively putting one of them out of a job if they were both elected.
Darlene Senger, Republican candidate for comptroller, and Jim Dodge, a Republican looking to unseat Treasurer Michael Frerichs, say the state should merge their offices.
“Illinois is facing a budget shortfall and a politician surplus,” a joint statement from the two candidates says. “We urge the legislature to save taxpayer dollars by consolidating the offices of Treasurer and Comptroller.”
The Illinois Constitution would have to be changed to merge the offices. Senger and Dodge want to press the issue so lawmakers pass a constitutional amendment that would then be on the subsequent statewide ballot.
A spokesman for comptroller Susana Mendoza says the Republicans’ estimation of $12 million in savings isn’t accurate.
“The framers of the state constitution were familiar with the potential for corruption in having one officer in charge of receiving money, investing it and paying it out,” the spokesman, Abdon Pallasch, said. “That's because Orville Hodge embezzled $6 million in state funds in the '50's. That's $57 million in today's money – far more than the phony projected savings number.”
Senger said claims that the offices were separated to ward off corruption doesn’t make sense considering the technology that’s available to keep track of money.
“Everything’s online,” she said. “Things are now done with computers that will make sure that you’re doing things accurately.”
The Illinois state Senate voted to place the question of consolidation on the ballot in the 2014 election in 2012. Frerichs voted to put a consolidation measure on the ballot when he was a state senator. The measure never passed the House.
“We shouldn’t feel comfortable asking Illinois taxpayers to tighten their belts and hand over more of their hard-earned money when political leaders in Springfield aren’t willing to do the same thing,” Senger said.
A spokesman from Frerichs' office says the treasurer still supports evaluating the proposal but still has yet to see an explanation for the savings Senger and Dodge say are possible."In 2015, we reached out to the Comptroller Munger’s office to discuss such an evaluation," said Greg Rivara. "There was no response."
Illinois is one of only a handful of states to have both a comptroller and a treasurer as elected officials, Senger said. Many states have a “chief financial officer” position within the governor’s office. Mendoza has publicly clashed with Gov. Bruce Rauner over managing of Illinois’ debt, successfully pushing for multiple transparency measures that the governor’s office opposed.
