Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner has announced his choice for Illinois' next comptroller -- someone who, like himself, is a relative newcomer to state politics.
Residents of Illinois' 59th House district are probably familiar with the name Leslie Munger: their mailboxes, no doubt, were flooded all fall with campaign brochures featuring her name.
Her failed, but tight, race against incumbent Democratic state Rep. Carol Sente of Carol Stream was chalked up to be one of the slimiest of the season.
Despite that loss, Munger will be coming to Springfield.
Gov.-elect Rauner says next week he'll appoint his fellow Republican to be Comptroller. The office was left vacant following Judy Baar Topinka's sudden death last month; leaving current Gov. Pat Quinn to appoint his budget director, Jerry Stermer, to temporarily fill the post. But Topinka was set to begin a new, four year term next week, leaving it to Rauner to pick someone for the job long-term.
Just how long remains a question. Legislators will be back in Springfield on Thursday, to debate creating a special election for comptroller in 2016.
Munger, of Lincolnshire, was previously director of Helene Curtis/Unilever's Hair Care business, and she was a brand manager at Procter & Gamble. Her resume says she has an M.B.A. from Northwestern's Kellogg Graduate School of Business and a B.S. from the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign.
Like Rauner, who often brags about his lack of experience in state government, Munger says on her 2014 campaign website that "I am a Springfield outsider; not a career politician."
