State Rep. Miller favors merging offices of Comptroller and Treasurer

Also favors more transparency and immediate cost-savings.

 Illinois State Representative David Miller, Democratic nominee for State Comptroller, is in favor of the proposal to merge the offices of Treasurer and Comptroller.

“I am in favor of merging the two offices, and if State Senator Kwame Raoul’s bill to do just that comes before the Illinois House I will support that measure,” said Miller.

“The Treasurer’s office and the Comptroller’s office were created as separate offices in the aftermath of the Orville Hodge embezzlement scandal (http://www.time.com/time/ magazine/article/0,9171, 867023,00.html). In this current era of George Ryan and Rod Blagojevich pay-to-play insider politics, we have to have open and transparent government. Illinoisans are universally tired of headlines about ethics scandals, and that’s why I introduced a proposal last week to put all government salaries and contracts on line. To make consolidation effective, we need to turn the page on the politics of the past.”  

“We must also be realistic about the impact of consolidating the two offices. Consolidation of the two offices will first require a constitutional amendment to be approved by the people of Illinois. Assuming voter approval, we wouldn’t see any savings to the taxpayers through consolidation for at least four years.  We shouldn’t wait four years to start saving taxpayer dollars.”

“That’s why I’m for immediate cost savings, not just those we might achieve four or more years from now. That’s why I have championed cost-savings by eliminating the redundancies in both offices and improving technology to cut down on costs. 

“Health care service providers, and other providers of key services, need help now. They can’t wait four years to be rescued from this fiscal quicksand.”