Full Text of HR0251 99th General Assembly
HR0251 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka was born on | 3 | | January 16, 1944; a native of Illinois, she was born in | 4 | | Riverside, attending local public schools and the Ferry Hall | 5 | | School for Girls; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, Judy Baar Topinka attended the Medill School of | 7 | | Journalism at Northwestern University, graduating with a | 8 | | degree in journalism; after graduating in 1966, she worked as a | 9 | | reporter for the "Forest Park Review" and the "Life Newspapers" | 10 | | chain, rising within Life Newspapers to the rank of editor; and
| 11 | | WHEREAS, Judy Baar Topinka worked in public relations for | 12 | | the American Medical Association and as an independent | 13 | | consultant; as a community leader and public relations | 14 | | consultant, she became active in 28 separate ethnic, civic, and | 15 | | political organizations, including the Cermak Road Business | 16 | | Association and the Riverside, Lyons, Brookfield, and West | 17 | | Suburban Chambers of Commerce; and | 18 | | WHEREAS, As a community leader, Judy Baar Topinka ran for | 19 | | election to the Illinois House of Representatives in November | 20 | | of 1980; winning election in the former 7th District, she took | 21 | | the oath of office in the 82nd General Assembly; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, After serving 2 terms in the Illinois House, | 2 | | Topinka ran for, and was elected to, the Illinois Senate in | 3 | | November of 1984; she served the 22nd District with distinction | 4 | | for 10 years; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, After 14 years as a member of the Illinois General | 6 | | Assembly, Judy Baar Topinka ran for statewide office; as a | 7 | | pioneer in the cause of women in elected statewide office, she | 8 | | was chosen in November of 1994 to serve as Illinois State | 9 | | Treasurer, winning the votes of 1,504,335 of her fellow | 10 | | Illinoisans; and | 11 | | WHEREAS, As Treasurer, Judy Baar Topinka was responsible | 12 | | for the prudent investment and safeguarding of Illinois' | 13 | | financial assets, including dedicated funds specifically | 14 | | earmarked by the Illinois General Assembly for defined public | 15 | | purposes; as Treasurer, her performance was increasingly | 16 | | valued by the people of Illinois; her election and re-election | 17 | | percentages rose from 50.4% in 1994 and 50.0% in 1998, to 54.8% | 18 | | in 2002; and
| 19 | | WHEREAS, During Judy Baar Topinka's final term as Treasurer | 20 | | from 2003 to 2007, the then-sitting Governor of Illinois | 21 | | pursued a financial policy of shifting monies between State | 22 | | funds, "sweeping" money out of the dedicated funds overseen by | 23 | | the Treasurer and damaging the ability of Illinois to keep its |
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| 1 | | promises and meet its financial commitments; and
| 2 | | WHEREAS, Fighting to defend the financial honor of | 3 | | Illinois, Judy Baar Topinka accepted the nomination of the | 4 | | Republican Party in 2006 for Governor of Illinois, waging a | 5 | | severely underfunded campaign for the State's highest office as | 6 | | the first Republican woman to be nominated for this position; | 7 | | and | 8 | | WHEREAS, After briefly living in the private sector, Judy | 9 | | Baar Topinka returned to the statewide scene in 2010, seeking | 10 | | and winning election in November of 2010 as the 7th State of | 11 | | Illinois Comptroller with 1,927,139 votes from her fellow | 12 | | residents of the Prairie State; and
| 13 | | WHEREAS, As Comptroller, Judy Baar Topinka now had | 14 | | responsibility over managing Illinois' active cash flow; | 15 | | during her tenure, she continually warned of the dangers | 16 | | associated with Illinois' unbalanced budgets; and
| 17 | | WHEREAS, As Comptroller, Judy Baar Topinka pioneered the | 18 | | online publication of Illinois' cash flow situation in the | 19 | | monthly report "Monthly Money Matters", showing her fellow | 20 | | citizens how Illinois' unofficial debt and unpaid bill | 21 | | situation was steadily worsening, even as complacent public | 22 | | officials claimed that the State was continuing to balance its |
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| 1 | | budgets; and | 2 | | WHEREAS, As Comptroller, Judy Baar Topinka strongly | 3 | | supported economy in government; she even supported efforts to | 4 | | abolish her own position in office through House Joint | 5 | | Resolution Constitutional Amendment 1, a bipartisan | 6 | | constitutional amendment introduced in the 97th General | 7 | | Assembly to eliminate the Office of the Comptroller and | 8 | | transfer its powers and duties to the Office of the Illinois | 9 | | State Treasurer; and
| 10 | | WHEREAS, After HJRCA 1 and similar measures failed to get | 11 | | the required 3/5 majorities in both houses of the Illinois | 12 | | General Assembly and were not submitted to the voters in 2012 | 13 | | or 2014, Judy Baar Topinka ran for re-election to the office of | 14 | | Comptroller; and
| 15 | | WHEREAS, Judy Baar Topinka was re-elected to a second full | 16 | | term as Comptroller on November 4, 2014, marking the 5th time | 17 | | that she had successfully won the votes of her fellow | 18 | | Illinoisans for statewide office; but while serving out the | 19 | | final days of her first term as Comptroller, and preparing to | 20 | | take the oath of office for her second term, she died in office | 21 | | at the age of 70 on December 10, 2014 in Berwyn; therefore, be | 22 | | it
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| 1 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 2 | | NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | 3 | | pay tribute to the memory of our colleague, Illinois | 4 | | Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka; and be it further
| 5 | | RESOLVED, That we affirm that Judy Baar Topinka was a | 6 | | pioneer in the election of women to statewide office in | 7 | | Illinois and a figure beloved by the members of both political | 8 | | parties; and be it further | 9 | | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | 10 | | delivered to Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka's son, Joseph Baar | 11 | | Topinka, and her longtime Chief of Staff, Nancy Kimme.
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