Republican candidates for Illinois treasurer, comptroller call out 'election year gimmicks'

[May 17, 2022] By Kevin Bessler | The Center Square

(The Center Square) – Two Republican candidates running for Illinois state offices are calling on the incumbents to stop campaigning on taxpayers' money.

Treasurer candidate, state Rep. Tom Demmer, R-Dixon, and Comptroller candidate, McHenry County Auditor Shannon Teresi say it is corrupt for Democratic incumbents Michael Frerichs and Susana Mendoza to display their names on checks and other communications to state residents, calling it an “election year gimmick.”

In the months following the start of the state budget July 1, checks for income tax and property tax rebates are expected to go out to eligible taxpayers from the comptroller's office.

During an unrelated news conference Monday, Frerichs defended the practice.

“It is my constitutional duty to sign checks,” Frerichs said. “[Demmer] asked a constitutional officer not to sign checks.”

Demmer also called on Frerichs to come clean about the money he’s taken from political funds that were controlled by former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago. Madigan has pleaded not guilty to 22 federal corruption charges.

“The simple fact is that Michael Frerichs, enabled by over $275,000 in campaign cash from indicted former Speaker Michael Madigan, has used and abused his positions in state office to raise taxes at every turn and using taxpayer dollars to add his name to election-year gimmicks takes his hypocrisy to its tallest level,” Demmer said in a statement.

Teresi highlighted her own experience as McHenry County Auditor and called the distribution of checks to taxpayers with Comptroller Mendoza’s name on them a dereliction of her duty.
 

“I was elected as Auditor to stop corrupted waste of taxpayers dollars exactly like this. We ended the practice of campaigning on taxpayers dollars in McHenry County, and I plan on ending it statewide as the next Comptroller,” Teresi said in a statement.

A spokesman from Mendoza's office said the checks will continue to be signed.

Kevin Bessler reports on statewide issues in Illinois for the Center Square. He has over 30 years of experience in radio news reporting throughout the Midwest.