Lame-duck appointment a "booby trap" for taxpayers

Earlier this month, Gov-elect Bruce Rauner said the state budget was akin to a “booby trap,” ready to explode once he takes office.

Now, Gov. Pat Quinn’s lame-duck appointment of longtime aide and campaign manager, Lou Bertuca, to a $160,000-a-year job as executive director of the ISFA comes with a twist, which the Chicago Sun Times’ Dan Mihalopoulous discovered after receiving a copy of the two-year contract through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Unless Rauner has prior training in patronage bomb disposal, this might be a tricky trap to defuse without taxpayers getting caught in the blast.

While both Republican and Democratic governors in Illinois have been guilty of lame-duck appointments in the past, perhaps now is the time to abolish lame-duck legislative sessions altogether.

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