Why I think Judy would be “crying” at political partisanship done in her name

It seems that on the day most of us were ignoring the Chicago mayoral race (only 34 percent voter turnout that day), a state legislator from the far northwest suburbs was trying to slip a change into state law purely out of partisan political spite.

Feb. 24 was the day of the mayoral election. It also was the date that state Rep. Michael Tryon, R-Crystal Lake, introduced a bill for consideration by the General Assembly this spring to change the way in which governors can fill vacancies.

SPECIFICALLY, TRYON WAS concerned with the outcry that developed following the death in early December of state Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka.

Eventually, Gov. Bruce Rauner filled the spot with Leslie Munger. But for the month that existed between Topinka’s death and Rauner’s inauguration, former Gov. Pat Quinn long-time political ally Jerry Stermer to be the comptroller.

Now anyone with common sense sees nothing wrong with this. The former governor filled the immediate vacancy, and the current governor got to fill the new term that began when they were inaugurated in mid-January.

There was no interruption in the services provided by the state Comptroller’s office. There was no problem.

EXCEPT IN THE mind of Tryon and other political people who want to put partisanship above all other concerns. Hence, Tryon is trying to get a change in the law.

Specifically, he says a governor must be required to replace a vacancy with someone “of the same leading political party.” Because Topinka identified herself as a Republican, her replacement must also be a registered GOPer.

During the month that Stermer was comptroller, the constitutional office was headed by a Democrat. Which the Illinois Review website that spins all news from a conservative ideological viewpoint says was somehow wrong.

Actually, it’s just the way government operates, and ought to operate. Governors across the nation get the authority to make appointments and fill vacancies as they see fit. It’s one of the perks of the position.

IT ALSO IS a reason why people should take such elections seriously. Picking a governor impacts more than just who gets the right to call the Executive Mansion in Springfield home.

And yes, if Pat Quinn had managed to win re-election back in November, he would have had every right to pick a Democrat over a Republican – regardless of the fact that Topinka defeated Democratic comptroller nominee Sheila Simon back in November.

There certainly is precedent. Back in the early 1980s, Democrat Alan Dixon won the first of his two terms in the U.S. Senate half-way through his term as Illinois secretary of state.

Democratic partisan interests were hurt when then-Gov. James R. Thompson chose fellow Republican (and gubernatorial aide) Jim Edgar to replace Dixon. Those are the breaks, and Thompson had every right to make that choice.

I’M SURE THAT Tryon isn’t old enough to have been politically active back in the early 1980s (I was in high school back then), but I suspect he and his ilk would be screeching and screaming at anyone who would have dared to challenge Thompson’s appointment – which impacted our state by putting Edgar into the position by which he eventually springboarded to two terms of his own as governor.

Considering that Topinka was a Republican partisan who always managed to draw significant political support from Democrats as well, I’d like to think she would appreciate this very fact. I’d like to think she herself would not be taking seriously this bill – which I personally hope manages to get lost in the shuffle of legislative activity this spring.

The sooner that knuckleheaded partisan ideas like this fade away, the sooner we all can get around to having serious governing on our behalf.

Then, maybe I can get the late Lesley Gore song “Judy’s Turn to Cry” out of my head, because it was among the first thoughts that popped in there when I learned of this measure.

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Quinn made the safe comptroller choice, no matter what anyone thinks

Gov. Pat Quinn made his pick Friday for who gets to be Illinois comptroller for three-and-a-half weeks, and it’s Jerry Stermer.

That’s a name that will draw a reaction of “Who??!?” from the bulk of people. Although anyone who pays attention to state government and politics and Quinn throughout the years will know the name.

HE ONCE WAS Quinn’s chief of staff, and has held many other positions under Quinn during that man’s time in various government posts. Most recently, he was the governor’s budget director.

Meaning he was the governor’s personal financial expert and the guy whose staff ought to be cooperating with aides to Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner to get them prepared for the state budget they’re going to have to propose in the spring of 2015.

So doesn’t it kind of make sense that Quinn, confronted with a situation where he has to pick a person to run the constitutional office that oversees the state’s bank accounts and makes sure bills get paid in a sort-of timely fashion, would turn to this trusted aide to oversee the state’s finances for the remaining weeks of his gubernatorial term?

To me it does. Personally, I always thought that if Quinn truly wanted to make a non-controversial appointment to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka, he ought to just pick his budget director.

HE’S ACQUAINTED WITH how much of a mess the state’s finances are. He’s been around state government for years.

And because he’s not the kind of guy who has ever put his name on a ballot, he’s not likely to have any ambition to stick around beyond the Jan. 12 date on which state government transitions itself to the officials who got themselves elected back in November.

In fact, Stermer himself made a point of saying he would formally resign on Jan. 12 as of Noon, and that he’s not viewing his nearly-one month-long stint as a state constitutional officer as a way of boosting the pension benefits he will someday receive.

He could do that, but he says he won’t. Although he will accept the comptroller’s salary for the next three weeks – which is about $10,000 per year higher than the gubernatorial budget director salary he now receives, according to the Capitol Fax newsletter.

OF COURSE, WE have the ideologues who are upset that he would dare pick someone for a short-term vacancy whose loyalty presumably would be to him.

There are those who will perpetually argue that Topinka’s long-time chief of staff, Nancy Kimme, should have been the one to get a short-term post. Although my own experience in dealing with government staffers (as opposed to the elected officials they work for) is that they usually have the temperament that makes them suited to following orders and running things, rather than setting grand policy decisions.

A good staffer makes an elected official look better. They don’t necessarily make a good public official in and of themselves.

Besides, the ideologue types are likely to get a chance to nominate the long-term pick for Topinka, who won’t be able to fulfill the four-year term to which she was chosen last month.

TRYING TO CLAIM that Quinn was somehow being irresponsible with his pick on Friday merely makes them seem to be greedy! We still have to figure out what will happen for the long-term. Who will Rauner pick? Will the Legislature try to force a special election for the post in 2016?

Considering that Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, hasn’t done anything yet to indicate he’s willing to cooperate with Quinn’s demand for a special session come Jan. 8 (it does need to be resolved before the mid-January transition to a new General Assembly), it makes me wonder if it will be more rhetorical nonsense spewed on the issue.

Take into account that Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is the one who issued the opinion saying there ought to be a special election and Michael Madigan is saying he wants the two governor-types to resolve this on their own, what happens if father defies daughter?

Will there be a Merry Christmas at the Madigan household next week?

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