Posted on 12/10/2014 4:15:25 AM PST by Petruchio
Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka has died, less than 24 hours after having a stroke.
A statement from her office says the 70-year-old Topinka died early Wednesday morning following complications from the stroke.
She'd reported discomfort and was admitted to a hospital in Berwyn. After undergoing testing, she lost consciousness Wednesday and was pronounced dead shortly after 2 a.m.
Topinka, a Republican, won a second term last month in a tough race with Democratic challenger Sheila Simon, the former lieutenant governor.
(Excerpt) Read more at politics.suntimes.com ...
I don’t remember ever eating at a HoJo’s but I have been told their ice creams were damn good.
SJBanker adds creedence to the statement.
They had banana ice cream that was to DIE for!
Really? Sounds nice. Alas...
Of course they do, the term is going to EXPIRE.
With respect, read the express language of the Illinois constitution that I cited. A term of office is not inherently finite. The term holds over until a successor qualifies. It does not just “expire”.
That said, there are a lot of good policy and political reasons to let the appointment go to Rauner or to appoint a consensus caretaker.
Bottom line, if they try to steal this office be taking advantage of vague wording and a bizarre situation, they must be fought. Not acceptable.
Yes, thank you.
There is no political upside for the Democrats to publicly muscle in an appointment which wields very little political power and a limited number of patronage jobs. And only for a very limited time.
But this is Illinois.
Interesting early test of the new balance of power in Springfield.
In post #13, I explain why I believe that the only vacancy that Quinn canfill right now is the one for the term that expires on January 12, 2015. I also provide various hypotheticals as to why it would be unreasonable to interpret the office of state comptroller for the term commencing on January 12, 2015 to have become vacant a couple of days ago, or on any date prior to January 12.
Of course, as I apologized for in a later post, I referredd to Topinka’s office as “treasurer” (the office she held in the ‘90s and ‘00s) instead of “comptroller.” And that brings to mind another hypothetical that explains how Quinn would be acting unconstitutionally if he attempted to appoint a comptroller to serve until a special election is held and not merely until January 12 . Let’s say that Topinka, being comptroller, had been elected treasurer last month (and someone else was elected comptroller for the term commencing on January 12), and that currently the treasurer was an appointee named by Quinn on December 2 because the treasurer resigned on December 1. In that case, when Topinka died on December 10, Quinn certainly would be able to appoint a new comptroller to replace Topinka, but such appointed comptroller could serve only until January 12, which is the date on which the term of office of the winner of the November election commences. But Quinn *could not* appoint a new treasurer merely because the treasurer-elect (Topinka, in this hupothetical) died; the vacancy in the office of treasurer would not occur until January 12, 2015, the date on which the term of the treasurer-elect commences. In such scenario, the treasurer appointed by Quinn on December 2 (due to the resignation of the prior treasurer) would serve until January 12, on which date there would be a new vacancy (when the treasurer-elect would not be able to take the oath of office), and such vacancy in the office of the treasurer would be filled by new Gov. Rauner until a special election is held; with respect to the office of comptroller, the person appointed by Quinn today to replace Topinka would serve until January 12 and be replaced by the compttoller-elect from the November election.
As my hypothetical makes clear, a governor does not have the power to appoint someone to a vacancy that technically has not occurred yet, such as a vacancy in an office whose term does not commence until January 12, 2015. The confusion here stems from the fact that Topinka was both the current comptroller and the comptroller-elect, but had she not been both thingsno one would be claiming that Quinn could appoint today the comptroller for the term commencing on January 12 instead of having Rauner appoint such officer on January 12 or later.
As for the fact that in Illinois, as in many other states (but not for the U.S. presidency or Congress), persons hold office until their replacement qualifies for office and thus their time in office doesn’t “expire” at noon on the date on which the next term is supposed to commence, that would be a reason for Quinn’s appointee as comptroller to continue to serve as comptroller (as caretaker) until Rauner appoints a comptroller to fill the va ancy created on January 12 when no person qualified to become comptroller (because Topinka was dead, and Simon lost the election), but it would not mean that Rauner would lose the authority to designate a new comptroller on January 12 or thereafter.
Thanks for explaining that last point.
Gotta love these legal nuances.
RE HoJo’s:
A long time ago, me and a bunch of buddies got “escorted” out of a HoJo’s by members of the local constabulary...
Well, thrown out is actually a better description... “drunk and disorderly” I believe was the way they put it.
Around 1am or so, we had been bar hopping, got hungry, and decided to stop at a Howard Johnson’s that was close by.
Not a good idea...
:^)
Just had to have those fried clams, eh ?
Hahaha!!!
Actually... I think my buddy pinching the waitresses arse was what set everything off...
It all sorta went to hell from that point on...
That or telling her to hold the chicken between her knees.
OK, January 12, 20015 has come and gone, and this is what happened with the Illinois Comptroller office:
1. On Dec. 19, 2014, then-Gov. Quinn appointed Gerry Stermer to serve the remainder of the late Judy Baar Topinka’s then-current term, which would end on January 12, 2015.
2. On Jan. 12, 2015, Gov. Rauner (whose term had just begun) officially appointed Leslie Munger to serve during the term that was commencing that same January 12, 2015 but which was vacant due to the death of the winner of the election (Topinka).
3. Gov. Rauner hasn’t signed off on a special election for a permanent replacement for Topinka, noting that instead he would like a 2016 referendum on combining the offices of Treasurer and Comptroller.
So my reading of the succession clauses of the Illinois Constitution was correct, with Topinka’s death creating not one but two vacancies (one at the time of her death, and the other when Jan. 12 rolled around and she wasn’t alive to take the oath of office), and each vacancy was filled by the governor in office at the time of the vacancy (Quinn in December, and Rauner on Jan. 12).
Oops, forgot to ping you two as well.
Yes, I just noticed the other day that a Republican had been placed into the vacancy. It would seem reasonable to hold a special election in November 2016, although it would place the Republican nominee at a disadvantage. The last year statewide officer elections were held on a Presidential year was in 1976 (the year the GOP took the Governorship back).
Just before he left office, Quinn called a special session of the the rat leg and they passed a bill setting a 2016 special (would require specials for all vacancies in Comptroller, AG, Sec of State or Treas), which Quinn signed, then I presume he went home to his young gay lover and they did meth together before urinating on an American flag.
As you can probably tell, I’ve decided I’m opposed to any special election, especially in 2016, that’s our ****ing office.
I would support legislation that would send rat election thief and new State Treasurer Mike Freaks to gitmo.
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