Both chambers of the Illinois General Assembly convened on January 8th to pass legislation creating a special election in 2016 for the office of comptroller.

“Our state has major issues to overcome, and we should all be ready to come back to Springfield at any time to work on solutions,” said State Senator Dave Syverson (R-Rockford). “But, instead of dealing with our financial challenges, including the repercussions of a dishonest and unbalanced state budget, or working on bipartisan solutions to move our state forward, we were called to the Capitol for nothing more than a political power move.”

“There is only one reason that Democrat leadership rushed this legislation through a lame-duck General Assembly, and that’s because they think they have a better chance of electing a Comptroller from their own party in 2016,” added Senator Syverson. “It is truly shameful that the leaders of one party would attempt to take political advantage of the recent and tragic death of Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka.”

Senator Syverson also noted the expense of both the special session and the potential for lawsuits over its passage.

“Unfortunately this special session cost taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars and the litigation that will surely follow will cost significantly more,” said Senator Syverson. “This is the last of a series of partisan and expensive actions by Governor Quinn before he leaves office on Monday.”