Judy Baar Topinka

Judy Baar Topinka (born January 16, 1944 in Chicago , Illinois , † December 10, 2014 in Berwyn , Illinois) was an American politician . She was chairman of the Republican Party of Illinois and was State Treasurer from 1995 to 2007 in that state . Since January 2011, she has served as State Comptroller President of the State of Illinois , making her a member of the state government again.

University studies and early political career

Topinka studied at Northwestern University in Evanston , where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in journalism. She worked as a freelance journalist and later as an editor for several newspapers in the Chicago metropolitan area . At that time, she started her own public relations agency, which took her into policy advice .

She used her contacts for a political career. In 1980 she won a seat in the Illinois House of Representatives . In 1982 she was re-elected and in 1984 she was elected to the State Senate . She held this seat until 1994. In the middle of the term, she ran for election as State Treasurer , was elected as the first woman in Illinois to the office and was re-elected in 1998 and 2002.

Republican Party

Topinka took over the leadership of the Republican Party in Illinois in a crisis situation. Corruption allegations against Republican Governor George Ryan eventually led to a judicial conviction, and the party lost office to Democrat Rod Blagojevich . Many donors withdrew their donations, leaving the Republicans on the verge of bankruptcy.

Topinka was the only female republican incumbent in the state at the time and was trying to reorganize the party. But before they had fully recovered from the first scandal, the next followed. In 2004, the Republican Senate candidate Jack Ryan was forced to withdraw his candidacy after details of his divorce from actress Jeri Ryan became known. Alan Keyes was successful in the subsequent nomination . With this, the conservative base prevailed against the more liberal Topinka, which took the position that in the democratic stronghold of Illinois only moderate Republicans had any chance of being elected. After an election campaign in which Keyes acted in a highly polarizing and provocative manner, the Democratic candidate Barack Obama won with 70% of the vote. In 2005 she resigned from party leadership, her successor was Andy McKenna .

2002 gubernatorial election

In November 2005, she announced that she would run for the 2006 gubernatorial election. She was assisted by Joe Birkett , who ran for the office of lieutenant governor . During the election campaign for the 2006 primaries, she was heavily attacked by the conservative candidates Ron Gidwitz and Jim Oberweis . The attacks went so far that the Republican party leadership distanced itself from Gidwitz's campaign in a previously unknown manner. However, on November 8, 2006, she lost the gubernatorial election after only 39% of voters voted for her. Incumbent Rod Blagojevich received 49% of the vote, with a further 10% going to the Green Party candidate , Rich Whitney .

Return to the state government

In November 2010, Judy Topinka ran for the office of State Comptroller . While the Democratic governor Pat Quinn was re-elected at the same time , she prevailed with 52.9% of the vote against the Democratic MP David E. Miller . On January 10, 2011, she succeeded Daniel Hynes . On November 4, 2014, they upheld Illinois voters with 49% of the vote against incumbent Lt. Governor Sheila Simon of the Democrats, who received 45%. Topinka received slightly fewer votes than her party colleague Bruce Rauner , who was elected governor on the same day.

Topinka died unexpectedly of a stroke on December 10, 2014, at the age of 70, before her new term began . Both President Barack Obama and the outgoing Governor Pat Quinn praised her political achievements. Upon her death, Governor Quinn appointed Jerry Stermer as the new Comptroller for the remainder of the current term. However, Stermer resigned on January 12, 2015, after Bruce Rauner took over the governorship. The new head of government designated Leslie Munger as the new incumbent. Rauner announced that he would hold a special election for the post in 2016; he also brought up the idea of ​​merging the post of Comptroller and State Treasurer like other states.

Web links

• Personal web presence
• State Comptroller's website
• Rove's role in Topinka's gubernatorial bid (article in the New York Times )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka dies at age 70