That’s a good strategy for Rauner: seem eminently reasonable, and go to the media first. But he should follow up with a lawsuit claiming that Quinn can’t name someone to serve past January 12, and that he, not Quinn, is the governor entitled to name the replacement on January 12.
But I think that it would be even better strategy for Rauner to start talking about a fairly quick special election, with the filing deadline in March, the primaries in June, and the general in November. That way, no one can claim that he’s trying to keep Topinka’s deputy in there for years (and it would imply without having to say it that Quinn and the Democrats would try to name a partisan Democrat to serve for years).
I’ll be pleasantly surprised if Rauner didn’t name someone like Tom Cross (the recently defeated RINO combiner who narrowly lost his race for State Treasurer in 2014). TheRightGuy suggested Rauner would probably give it to Cross as a consolation prize (either way, Cross will get some cushy state government appointed job in a Rauner administration), and I’m inclined to agree that The Powers That Be would most likely reward Cross with Topinka’s job, now that there’s an opening.
One ideal scenario floated by a conservative friend of mine is to appoint Chris Lauzen (currently Kane Co. Board president) as Comptroller in Jan., and then Lauzen could run in November as an incumbent and most likely win. (Lauzen was previously the GOP nominee for Comptroller in 1998, when he lost to pampered politician’s kid Dan Hynes). If Rauner did that, I’d have to stop calling him George Ryan 2.0. That being said, I think it would happen when hell freezes oer.