CHICAGO – I have consistently said that my office would continue to place elected officials’ paychecks at the back of the line to get paid unless a judge ordered me to stop.
A judge so ordered today.
As former Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka did in a 2013 legislator-pay case, I will release the back pay checks to all elected officials consistent with the judge’s order.
I have always argued that there is a sound policy reason, given the absence of a balanced state budget, to prioritize payments to the state’s most vulnerable – hospice care; child care; meals on wheels for seniors – ahead of paychecks for elected officials.
We will confer with the Attorney General and the consulting attorneys we retained from Holland and Knight, who advised us and the former Comptroller on this case, and ask them to appeal the judge’s ruling.
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