 Some legislators think so, or they’re at least willing to take another run at
it.
Bills already in play this year include:
Combining the state treasurer’s and comptroller’s jobs, which sponsors say would
save taxpayers $12 million annually.
Eliminating the office of lieutenant governor, which would save taxpayers an
estimated $1.5 million annually.
Rep. David McSweeney, R-Barrington Hills, is the sponsor of the constitutional
amendment that would eliminate the officer of lieutenant governor.
He argues the position has nothing in the way of duties other than providing a
successor should the governor become unable to serve.
The amendment proposes doing away with the post and making the attorney general
the person to assume office.
“My argument is that we cannot afford the luxury of a lieutenant governor’s
office, especially when we are talking about budget issues that we are facing,”
he said.
Illinois is billions of dollars short in its annual budget and faces a pension
debt of roughly $111 billion.
Widespread cuts in spending and services are expected, and some lawmakers want
to raise taxes.
The amendment to cut away the lieutenant governor’s office made it out of the
House with more than 80 votes last session, but it died in the Senate, McSweeney
said.
Rep. Jack Franks, D-Marengo, is cosponsoring the legislation, saying its long
past time Illinois did away with the office.
“The only job lieutenant governors have is to wake up in the morning and read
the obituaries and see if they’ve won the lottery,” Franks said.
Franks said when Pat Quinn was elevated from lieutenant governor to governor
upon Rod Blagojevich’s impeachment, no one seemed to notice Quinn served without
a lieutenant governor.
The vacant post didn’t get much attention because it didn’t matter, Franks said.
Comptroller, treasurer
Another move that also would require amending the state constitution, that of
merging the comptroller’s and treasurer’s offices, is back after having been
discussed for years.
Judy Barr Topinka, the incumbent comptroller who died last month, favored the
idea. Legislation to replace the two offices with a single “comptroller of the
treasury” now often gets the name “Judy’s Amendment” attached.
Such legislation has dozens of sponsors in the House, as well as bipartisan
support in the Senate.
Supporters say combining the offices would save taxpayers $12 million to $13
million annually.
Opponents say having two state financial officers better maintains controls, or
checks and balances, over the state’s money matters.
[to top of second column] |
 The changes proposed in the constitutional
amendments would need super-majority (60 percent) approval in each
chamber to then be placed on the 2016 ballots.
If each were approved, the financial offices would be one and the
lieutenant’s governor’s office would be none as of the 2018
elections.
Challenges
But reducing the number of constitutional officers has never been
easy.
Jim Nowland is a University of Illinois political science professor
emeritus, former legislator and was an unsuccessful candidate for
lieutenant governor, running with Gov. Richard Ogilvie, in 1972.
He said one of the reasons lawmakers are slow to
reduce the number of executive officers is that party leaders hate
to lose a potential stepping-stone office for one of their own.
Offices such as treasurer, comptroller and secretary of state give
statewide name recognition and open future fundraising doors, he
said. And that’s particularly true for downstate candidates, he
said.
“It’s difficult for a downstater to compete for the governorship
because of the increased cost (of campaigning) and the lack of
fundraising potential downstate relative to the city of Chicago.”
Republican George Ryan of Kankakee was secretary of state before he
became lieutenant governor and governor. Republican Jim Edgar of
Charleston was also a secretary of state before winning the
governor’s mansion.
Democrat U.S. Sen. Allen Dixon of Belleville had been state
treasurer and secretary of state.
“I can see a downstater saying, ‘Look, this might be the only
opportunity for a shot’ at statewide office or even a future run for
the governor’s office, Nowland said.
David Yepsen, director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute,
said dismissing the chances of a “Judy’s Amendment” might be a
mistake.
Legislators, he said, “never like to kill anything too dead,”
meaning a measure to merge or eliminate offices could be kept alive
late into a session as trading stock.
“We have a long way to go,” Yepsen said of the spring legislative
session.
Analysts also noted the savings tied to combining and eliminating
offices is small in the grand scheme of the state’s budget.
But Rep. Ron Sandack, R-Downers Grove, says there’s another reason
state government needs to get thinner — to become the example for
all government in Illinois.
Illinois, he said, has more units of local government (7,000 by some
counts) and tops the next closest state by more than 2,000.
“We need to walk the walk when it comes to shedding unnecessary
levels of government,” said Sandack, who also has served as a mayor.
[This
article courtesy of
Watchdog.]
Click here to respond to the editor about this article |
