AuH2ORepublican, I agree with you that Rauner should be able to appoint the new comptroller, but I don’t think he can, according to the constitution. Article V, Section 7 states, “If the attorney general, secretary of state, comptroller, or treasurer fails to qualify or if his office becomes vacant, the governor shall fill the office by appointment. The appointee shall hold office until the elected officer qualifies or until a successor is elected and qualified as may be provided by law and shall not be subject to removal by the governor.”
I hope the legislature will propose, for the Nov. 2016 ballot, an amendment to the constitution that will state that a governor may not appoint anyone to an elected office for a term in which that governor won’t serve.
Umm, in post #13, I explained why, despite being familiar with the pertinent language in the IL constitution, I believed that Quinn would not be able to name a comptroller (I wrote “Treasurer” like 72 times, because that’s the office that I always associate with Topinka) that could serve past January 12, 2015. The issue is when the vacancy is deemed to occur, and I posit that if the term does not commence until January 12 then the vacancy can’t occur until such date. Please reread what I wrote in post #13, and if you still think that Quinn can appoint someone that can serve until November 2016 or whatever, then we can agree to disagree.