A special election for the office of Illinois comptroller is almost surely on the horizon. Democratic members of the Illinois General Assembly hurried today to pass a measure setting the election up, and Democratic Governor Pat Quinn says he will sign it into law.
It goes back to last month, when Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka suddenly died. She was about to begin a new, four-year term.
Topinka -- it's worth noting -- was a Republican, as is Illinois' next governor, Bruce Rauner, who is to be sworn in Monday.
He'll appoint someone to fill Topinka's post shortly after his inauguration.
With this legislation, though, Rauner's appointee will only be guaranteed two years; Democrats will get a chance to win back the office in 2016.
That setup has prompted protests from Republicans, like this one from Rep. Dwight Kay of Glen Carbon.
"But what we're doing today is pure and simple politics. We don't like the fact that we have a Republican governor that's going to be sworn in, and so at the eleventh hour - bingo. We're going to stick it to him."
Governor Quinn is expected to sign the plan into law shortly. He says people should always have power to choose their officials.
