Office: Illinois State Comptroller

Job Description: The comptroller maintains the state’s accounts and issues payments in and out; additionally the office regulates cemetery funding and maintenance. The office was created by the Illinois Constitution of 1970.

Personal: Topinka served as the first female Illinois State Treasurer. During her last term in office, she was the only elected statewide official from the Republican Party. She unsuccessfully ran against Rod Blagojevich for Illinois Governor in 2006.

Outlook: Topinka won the office over Democrat David Miller by a substantial margin (53-41). Topinka ran as a “heavy-duty fiscal officer” and will fight for fiscal discipline. She plans to do a better job staying on top of the state’s bill-paying process so that schools and service providers have some predictability about when and how much they’ll be paid. Her plans also include a new Web site to ensure transparency by allowing the public to see where money is being spent.

Look for Topinka to merge herself out of a job, following up on a campaign pledge to combine her comptroller office with that of the state treasurer’s. This has been long considered as a popular means to help downsize Illinois government and, in her, there is a person who has held both jobs.

Kevin Sherman

Office: Cook County Treasurer

Job Description: As the manager of the second largest tax collection office in the U.S., the Cook County Treasurer is responsible for over $9 billion collected annually. The Treasurer’s Office is in charge of mailing, collecting, investing and distributing all real estate taxes for Cook County. Much work goes into the collection, which happens twice a year, including certifying refunds, investigating delinquent properties, accounting and auditing and processing court orders, among other things. The office also acts as banker of Cook County, keeping financial records and approving much of the accounts in many county operations.

Personal: Pappas served eight years as a Cook County Commissioner before becoming the Cook County Treasurer in 1998. Since she took office, she has reduced her office staff from 250 to 121 positions. In addition to providing tax payers with hundreds of new tax payer locations, she added 150 computers to her office which provides immediate access and processing of the taxes.

Pappas initiated a “lockbox” system which immediately processed checks earning millions of dollars in interest. In its first year, the “lockbox” earned the county $19 million more than the previous year. Creating outlook materials in English and 21 other languages, is just another way Pappas has tried to reach taxpayers and make her office more accessible.

Outlook: Pappas has a big job ahead of her. Cook County is projected to face a budget shortfall in 2011. The County has also been attacked by critics for its per capita spending which has seemed to balloon with limited access to records and information on where the money is being spent.

Courtney Sturgeon

Office: Cook County Assessor

Job description: The assessor determines important property values for commercial and residential parcels. Values set by the assessor determine property taxes in an area. One-third of properties in the county are reassessed each year.

Personal: Berrios was born in Chicago. His family moved into the Cabrini-Green high rises when he was six years-old. He was a dishwasher for seven years at the Tower Club in Chicago. He graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in accounting. In 1982 he became the first Latino elected to the Illinois General Assembly. Since 1988 he has served on the Cook County Board of Review. In 2007 he was selected as leader of the Cook County Democratic Party.

Outlook: Berrios was endorsed by Gov. Pat Quinn, House Speaker Mike Madigan and Ald.-Cook County Board president-elect Toni Preckwinkle. He has been accused of being an opponent of making Illinois’ government more transparent. Chicago Magazine, The Better Government Association and the Cook County State’s Attorney office have, or are, examining Berrios’s ethics, and if he provides preferential treatment to the politically-connected.. Berrios vows to improve technology and fairly assess properties with assessments written with clarity for owners.

Christine Hurley

Office: Illinois State Treasurer

Job description: Under the fifth article of the Illinois Constitution, the treasurer “shall be responsible for the safekeeping and investment of monies and securities.” In short, the treasurer is the state banker; Rutherford will be tasked with protecting and managing government funds.

Personal: Rutherford currently represents the 53^rd district in the Illinois Senate. He previously served in the Illinois House of Representatives for ten years (1993-2003). The treasurer-elect is single, 55 years old and lives in Chenoa, Ill. An adventurer at heart, Rutherford is a certified scuba diver, has traveled through Africa and managed to reach all seven continents before turning 40.

Outlook: Rutherford campaigned on the platform of bringing “tough love” to Springfield. He promised to cut costs, streamline government, expand financial literacy programs and close satellite offices of the treasury.

Megan Ashley

Office: Cook County Board president

Job description: President of the Cook County Board oversees a budget of $3 billion and 24,000 jobs. Preckwinkle, as chief executive officer, will preside over the meetings of the County Board. She is the first woman to be elected to the office.

Personal: Preckwinkle, born in St. Paul, Minn., has been alderman of the 4th ward since 1991. She holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the University of Chicago. Preckwinkle was a high school history teacher for 10 years after completing college. She has two children with her husband, Zeus.

Outlook: The Civic Federation watchdog group estimates the county will face a $285 million budget shortfall next year. Preckwinkle has promised to remove the remaining half-a-percent sales tax increase enacted by board President Todd Stroger. She has said this will not be done in her first year, however. She has also promised to cut taxes and clean up county government by ending patronage and waste. A transition Web site was promised during Preckwinkle’s acceptance speech, which will allow anyone to apply for county jobs in her administration. The site launched Nov. 3.

Christine Hurley

Illinois State Treasurer

The Job:

The treasurer is in charge of investing the state’s funds, finding the rightful owners of unclaimed properties and managing the college savings program Bright Start.

The Candidates:

Robin Kelly – Democrat – www.robinfortreasurer.com

Kelly, an African American woman, currently serves as the Chief of Staff for current treasurer and U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias. Previously, Kelly was a State Representative of the 38th District from 2003 to 2007. Originally from New York, he moved to Illinois to attend Bradley University and currently lives in Matteson, Ill.

James Pauly – Libertarian – www.pauly4illinois.com

Pauly currently works as a senior quality assurance analyst at a company in Chicago. He also serves as the fundraising chair for the Libertarian Party of Chicago. He also wishes the voters to know that he is working on an adventure fantasy novel that is due out in January and he plays in a rock band.

Dan Rutherford – Republican – www.danrutherford.org

Rutherford currently serves as a State Senator, where he has been in office since 2003. He is also an executive with ServiceMaster. Born in Pontiac, he currently lives in Chenoa.

Scott K. Summers – Green Party – www.summersfortreasurer.org

Summers has been an attorney for over twenty years, concentrating on estate planning, probate and business law. He was born in Evanston, but currently lives on a small farm in McHenry County.

The Skinny:

A central story surrounding the Illinois State Treasurer race has been the 2008 mishandling of the state’s Bright Start college savings program which lost $150 million. The state did eventually recover $77 million from the firm that managed the fund.

This has set the tone for both the U.S. Senate race between Republican Mark Kirk and current state treasurer Alexi Giannoulias. Kirk and others continually use the Bright Start program to characterize Giannoulias as unfit to hold Illinois’ Senate seat.

Kelly, as Giannoulias’ Chief of Staff, is being charged with the mismanagement of the Bright Start funds.

The Chicago Tribune charges: “Kelly has been chief of staff for treasurer Giannoulias since 2007, so it’s dumbfounding that she can’t fully explain what went wrong with the fund.”

But despite the negative coverage of the fund, Kelly tries to talk up the office’s efforts to recover the money and to help people recover unclaimed assets through six satellite offices.

Rutherford is a veteran state lawmaker from downstate and promises to limit the office’s spending and make wiser investments. Kelly promises to continue and expand some of the offices programs which she says will create jobs.

Both candidates are both hoping to give the treasurer’s office the authority to invest the state’s money with venture capital funds, which in turn would invest in start-up companies, thus hopefully leading to new job opportunities to the state’s unemployed.

According to the latest polls, Rutherford is leading with 42 percent of the vote, with Kelly at 38 percent. Undecided votes come in at 11 percent while third party candidates Pauly and Summers total about 4 percent each.

Key Endorsements:

Robin Kelly is endorsed by the Chicago Sun-Times.

Dan Rutherford is endorsed by the Chicago Tribune.

Kevin Sherman

Illinois Governor

The Job:

As the chief executive of the state, the governor of Illinois is responsible for enacting laws passed by the Illinois General Assembly. The governor resides in the state’s executive mansion in Springfield. Illinois currently has no gubernatorial term limit. With the state’s history of corruption in the gubernatorial seat and the current budget deficit, transparency and spending reform are on the top of all candidate’s list.

The Candidates:

Pat Quinn – Democrat – www.quinnforillinois.com

Pat Quinn is the 61-year-old incumbent from Hinsdale, Ill., but currently resides in Chicago. He graduated from Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service and he also has a law degree from Northwestern University’s School of Law. He served as State Treasurer from 1991 to 1995 and Lieutenant Governor under Rod Blagojevich from 2003 to 2009, assuming the role of Governor in 2009 after Blagojevich was impeached.

As Governor, Quinn signed a $29 billion capital bill to provide construction and repair funds for Illinois roads, mass transit and schools. He is Pro-Choice, supports contractual relationships for gays and lesbians, aims to have 25 percent of the state’s energy coming from renewable resources by 2025 and supports an income tax increase.

Bill Brady – Republican – www.bradyforillinois.com

Brady, 49, is a state Senator from Bloomington, Ill. He Graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University, is the co-owner of Brady Homes and is a current board member of St. Joseph Hospital and Westminster Retirement Village. Brady has proposed “cutting a dime for every dollar” as a means of managing the state’s debt. He is Pro-Life and supported a state amendment to define marriage between one man and one woman.

Brady supports a call for term limits in the House and the Senate, a less rigid education structure by allowing intelligent design to be taught in schools, eliminating the state’s estate tax and opposes a sales or income tax increase.

Rich Whitney – Green Party -  www.whitneyforgov.org

Whitney is a 55-year-old civil rights attorney from Carbondale, Ill. He Graduated from Michigan State University and has a law degree from Southern Illinois University’s School of Law. He was a member of the Socialist-Labor party from 1975 to 1993, ran for 115^th district Illinois House of Representatives in both 2002 and 2004 and also for Governor of Ilinois in 2006.

Whitney is Pro-Choice, supports progressive taxes, gay marriage, the legalization of marijuana, a state forensic audit, single-payer universal healthcare system and favors a ban on corporate campaign contributions.

The Skinny:

The gubernatorial race has been characterized by less-than friendly debates and tension filled candidate forums. Spawning from Rich Whitney protesting his exclusion from events such as the candidates forum at Chicago’s Union League Club and the gubernatorial debate at ABC7 to name calling tactics from both Quinn and Brady’s side.

Brady has consistently led in the polls, leading at 43.8 percent to Quinn’s 34.2 percent and Whitney’s 7 percent as of Oct. 24, 2010 (Rich Miller, Capitol Fax). The state’s general disenchantment with the Democratic Party make for a further Republican-leaning race.

Notable headlines include: Rich Whitney’s name being spelled wrong, as ‘Rich Whitey’ in 23 predominantly African American wards, Brady’s running mate Jason Plummer’s refusal to release his tax statements, and Brady’s request of an apology from Quinn regarding harsh comments made about Brady by Illinois Senator and Quinn supporter Rickey Hendon. Hendon called Brady “idiotic, racist, sexist and homophobic.”

Key Endorsements:

Pat Quinn has been endorsed by The Sierra Club and the Chicago Sun-Times.

Bill Brady has been endorsed by the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, the Chicago Tribune, the Daily Herald and Crain’s Chicago Business.

Rich Whitney has been endorsed by The Cherokee Tribal Council of Illinois.

Jennifer Schanz

Cook County Assessor

The Job:

The Cook County Assessor’s Office is not just the final destination of Jake and Elwood to pay back taxes (The Blues Brothers). The office is responsible for assessing the values of each parcel of property in the county (the job of the Assessor) and hearing appeals to the values they’ve assessed the Board of Review), usually done with the aid of specialized appeals lawyers. The property taxes paid depend on the assessed value. The office is notoriously corrupt, officials often accused of accepting money and other bribes in exchange for lowered assessments and granting appeals.

The Candidates:

Joe Berrios – Democrat - www.electjoeberrios.com

Berrios grew up in Chicago, and currently is chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party, the first Hispanic person to be elected to the role. He was a state representative in the ’80′s, and is on the Board of Review (reviews appeals on property values assessed by the Assessor). He says that he wants to make the assessing process more accurate and transparent, using new technologies.

Forrest Claypool – Independent - www.forrestclaypool.com

Claypool is a Democrat who is running as an Independent after losing the Democratic party nomination to Berrios. He is currently the Cook County Commissioner, and served as the Chief of Staff to Mayor Daley, the Deputy Commissioner of the Cook County Board of Appeals, Deputy State Treasurer and the Superintendent of the Chicago Park District. He says that he wants to make the office fair, honest and transparent, and that he will not accept contributions from appeals lawyers.

Sharon Strobeck-Eckersall – Republican - www.sharonforassessor.com

Strobeck-Eckersall has lived in Evanston all her life, and has a background in banking and real estate. She is currently a real estate broker and appraiser, and served as the Evanston Township Assessor for 11 years. She says that she will improve the integrity of the office, as well as the technology used and assistance for tax payers.

Robert C. Grota – Green - www.grotaforcookcountyassessor.com

Grota is from Wisconsin and currently lives in Chicago. His father was a property assessor and he’s worked in the field since a young age as an assessor in Wisconsin, and he currently works as an analyst for the Cook County Assessor’s office. He says that the process of appeals needs to be improved and new technology is needed to make assessments fair and accurate, as well as the need for an overseeing body for the Board of Appeals.

The Skinny:

The race has come down to Berrios and Claypool personally attacking each other left and right. Both have put out attack ads, and both created websites that appear to be for the sole purpose of bashing each other.

This year, property tax bills will be mailed a  month later than normal, conveniently after the elections. The current assessor Jim Houlihan blames Berrios for slowing appeals to delay the bills. Berrios says that Houlihan delayed the bills to give Claypool an advantage.

Berrios also lobbies state senate president John Cullerton and house speaker Michael Madigan for clients in Springfield, both of who are members of law firms that have appeals pending.

Berrios has been accused of pay-to-play politics by both Claypool and Chicago Magazine (who worked with the Better Government Association on an investigation).

Berrios responded that Claypool and the BGA have several large donors in common, and that Claypool has accepted $500,000 in campaign contributions from rich property owners, who could easily end up with appeals before the Board of Review.

Berrios has also accused Claypool of giving parking garage business to private companies after accepting donations from them as the Park District superintendent.

Name-calling continued during a debate televised on WTTW October 18. Claypool attacked Berrios for hiring relatives for government positions (which has been confirmed), and Berrios said that Claypool didn’t care about citizens because he did not vote in the February primary elections (Claypool said in his defense that it was just a crazy day).

After looking at state and county records, the Claypool campaign released a report October 27 detailing which buildings got major tax breaks from the Board of Review, what law firms represented them and how much money the firms donated. Berrios’ campaign funds have received over $3 million from tax appeal law firms since 1982.

Key Endorsements:

Berrios has been endorsed by Governor Pat Quinn, Secretary of State Jesse White, the Chicago Defender and the Cook County Democratic Party.

Claypool has been endorsed by the current Assessor Jim Houlihan, the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Daily Herald, the Southtown Star and the Pioneer Local.

Strobeck-Eckersall has been endorsed by several Republican candidates, several Republican organizations and two local Evanston newspapers.

Grota has been endorsed by the Green Party.

Lisa Klein