A public memorial service for the late Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka is scheduled for next week. The service will be held Wednesday morning at the Operating Engineers' Local 150 headquarters in Countryside.
Topinka died unexpectedly this week after complications from a stroke. Fellow state leaders, colleagues and family are scheduled to attend.
Meanwhile, Illinois officials are trying to figure out who has the power to name the state’s next comptroller and for how long.
The state constitution says the governor gets to appoint the next comptroller when there’s a vacancy. But since Illinois is about to have a new governor, there are questions about how long outgoing Governor Pat Quinn’s appointment could last a month or four years.
The sudden vacancy also brings back an old debate: Why can’t Illinois combine the offices of its two financial officers, the comptroller and treasurer?
Republican State Representative Noreen Hammond supports merging the offices - but says if they had been combined and there were a sudden death in that office - questions would still be raised.
“That would pose perhaps an even more precarious situation than we’re in right now.”
Topinka supported combining the two offices, but an effort to change the constitution stalled two years ago.
Editor's Note: Tony Arnold from Illinois Public Radio contributed to this story.