Margaret Croke: 2026 candidate for Illinois comptroller

Bio

Office sought: Comptroller

Party: Democrat

City: Chicago

Age: 34

Previous offices held: State Representative — 12th District

Q&A

How efficiently do you think the comptroller’s office operates currently. What, if anything, would you do to streamline the office?

Comptroller Mendoza walked into a burning building with a multi-billion dollar bill backlog and depleted rainy day fund. I give her immense credit for stabilizing the office and helping get the state on solid financial footing. Now I see opportunities to be proactive and fine-tune existing systems to increase transparency and accountability. My goal would be to implement a Budget to Bill public-facing software interface system where you could see the life-cycle of public dollars, from the time they are appropriated to when the Office pays the bill. This is utilized in other states, and I believe it can increase trust in state government.

One thing the Office can improve is timely financial reporting. I’m committed to working with the Auditor General to ensure timely audits and as a last-case scenario would issue interim reports to maintain the spirit of transparency until a complete report can be issued. I would dedicate employees to assist smaller local governments with their audits. We should utilize technical expertise that exists within the office to help smaller governments meet their obligations so we can focus time, money, and resources on rooting out the bad actors.

What experiences and qualifications have prepared you for success in this office?

As Deputy Chief of Staff at DCEO, I oversaw legislative affairs, personnel, and special projects, including capital investments, while managing an agency of more than 300 people, larger than the Comptroller’s office. As the point person responsible for overseeing and assisting with capital funds, I am well-versed in the criteria for disbursement, ranging from environmental impact study completion to proper accounting and receipts. I understand firsthand the complicated process of ensuring public funds are used legally, responsibly, and efficiently.

Since 2021, I have served as a State Representative, serving on the House Revenue & Finance Committee and chairing the Financial Institutions Committee. In that role, I’ve become the foremost authority on depositories, payment processing, and financial technology.

The Comptroller’s office requires collaboration with the administration, the General Assembly, and other units of government. My experience has given me a deep understanding of how the public sector ecosystem works, which will help ensure that the most fiscally sound decisions are being made on behalf of taxpayers and those who are most in need.

What should be the comptroller's role in managing payment of the state's bills? What, if anything, needs to be changed in this process?

One of the Comptroller’s primary responsibilities is paying bills on time. If this office is not laser-focused every day on paying the state’s bills, increasing transparency, publishing accurate financial reports, and ensuring efficiency and accountability, our entire state government begins to break down. One of my top priorities as Comptroller would be to provide technical assistance to small non-profits, vendors, and local units of government to ensure bills are being paid on time.

The payment processing can be onerous and difficult for smaller entities who do not have manpower and expertise. Dedicated employees across the state within the Comptroller’s Office to help ease this burden would encourage smaller vendors to do work with the state and decrease their labor costs. For local units of government, the technical assistance office would deploy staff to help with their audits. There are currently four statutes that oversee the audit requirements for local units of governments, and that needs to be streamlined. The auditing requirements would be based on the amount of revenues the local unit of government receives annually.

Should the comptroller's and treasurer's offices be combined? Why or why not and if so, how?

While there have been discussions about combining the Treasurer and Comptroller offices, I believe the offices should remain separate at this time. Unfortunately, there have been instances of fraud when these offices are combined, including recently in Dixon, Illinois. Combining the offices could also negatively impact our credit rating. However, if upon taking office there is a clear path, in collaboration with the Treasurer’s Office, to combine the role that would result in efficiencies, saving taxpayer dollars, and improving services, I am open to that conversation.