During Illinois’ 1970 Constitutional Convention, the debate regarding whether to collapse the constitutional offices of Comptroller and State Treasurer ended in inaction. During the convention, the separation of the offices was presented as necessary to prevent corruption and abuse of government spending. Since then, the debate has been repeatedly revisited, in both the legislative and executive branches, with many failed attempts at merger despite overwhelming support. This Note argues that the offices should be merged into one office: the Chief Financial Officer. Given technological advances, the existence of Executive Inspectors General, and the successful mergers in other states, worries of corruption are overstated. This Note both explains why proposed mergers have failed in the past and recommends how this merger could be successful.
The full text of this Note is available to download as a PDF.