Rauner Wants To Appoint Comptroller To Four-Year Term

Governor-elect Bruce Rauner is sticking to his plan to appoint a comptroller for a four-year term ... despite the legal opinion of the state's Attorney General. 

The Republican, who's set to be sworn in four weeks from now, says it's within his constitutional authority to choose a replacement for the late-Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka, who died suddenly last week. Topinka had just won a second term as comptroller in the November election, making for an unprecedented question of who should take her place, who gets to make that decision, and for how long.

Attorney General Lisa Madigan said Monday that outgoing Governor Pat Quinn should appoint someone to finish out Topinka's current term, and that Rauner could then appoint a comptroller for a two-year term. She said it would be "undemocratic" for

Rauner to appoint a comptroller for four years, and urged legislative leaders to approve a special election for the office in 2016.

But a spokesman for Madigan's father, Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan, says that's not likely.