Qualifications
I’m Karina Villa: a school social worker, daughter of immigrant small business owners, and a state senator who has spent my career in the real consequences of budgets. I never worked from an ivory tower. I’ve done home visits, brought vaccines to essential workers during COVID, and fought in Springfield for free and charitable clinics, safety-net hospitals, and working families. I flipped two red districts blue, including the 25th Senate District (the Oberweis seat), as an unapologetic progressive. I’m the only candidate offering operational competence and something more: a people’s watchdog who will use every lever of this office to protect communities, demand accountability, and make Illinois dollars reflect Illinois values.
No. Illinois needs stronger fiscal oversight, not less. The Comptroller and Treasurer have different responsibilities, and keeping them separate creates important checks and balances over how public money is tracked, invested, and paid out. In a time of federal instability and fiscal stress, combining them could reduce transparency and concentrate too much power in one office. The better path is coordination, modernization, and accountability: improve systems, speed payments, strengthen reporting, and make both offices more transparent to the public. Illinois needs a Comptroller who will use the office not just as a checkbook, but as a people’s watchdog with real transparency and ethical standards for public dollars.
Yes. I support full, public disclosure of all sources of campaign income for every elected official. Sunlight is how public trust is earned and kept. Illinoisans deserve to know who is funding campaigns and whether billionaires, corporate interests, or lobbyists are shaping decisions behind the scenes. Ethics is not a vibe, it must be lived and acted upon. The Comptroller does not enforce campaign finance law directly, but the office can model transparency, publish clear and accessible financial information, and use its platform to push accountability across government. As Comptroller, I will champion plain-language public reporting so people can see not only where campaign money comes from, but also where state dollars go and who benefits.
Illinois has struggled with payment delays because we waste taxpayer money with outdated systems and slow processes. As Comptroller, I will move to modern e-invoicing, automated workflow tracking across agencies, expand the vendor portal so providers can see where payments are stuck and why, and create internal bottleneck teams to fix delays and publish monthly metrics. When revenues fall short, I will publish payment rules in advance and use values-based criteria: protect life and dignity first, then workers, then schools and local governments. No guessing, no favoritism. I will pay bills on time, and in the order of those who need it first. I will publish public backlog dashboards; providers and families can track delays in real time too.
The Comptroller should be more than a passive “checkbook.” I will be the people’s watchdog. That means real transparency: plain-language reports, a live and readable view of payment backlogs, and honest explanations of what is funded, what is delayed, and who is being shortchanged. Budgets are moral documents, and Illinoisans deserve to see how budget choices affect working families in real time. I will also modernize systems so we pay faster and smarter, while strengthening accountability in procurement and vendor oversight. The public should have the same visibility insiders get, so people can follow their tax dollars, demand answers, and hold government accountable. I will make transparency readable, searchable, and useful to all people.
The Comptroller must prepare now for federal funding declines by strengthening cash-flow planning, increasing transparency, and setting clear payment priorities before a crisis hits. If funds fall, I will publish a live backlog dashboard, disclose payment rules in advance, and prioritize life-and-dignity services, workers, schools, and local governments. Long-term planning requires better forecasting and honest reporting. I’ve secured millions in non-regressive revenue, but it’s not enough. I will build statewide support for progressive revenue so billionaires and corporations finally pay their fair share.
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Qualifications
Lake County Treasurer from 2018 to present, managing billions of dollars in public funds each year and returning $6.4 million to schools, parks, libraries, and taxing bodies after increasing investment interest output by 200%. Commissioner on the Illinois Comptroller’s Bank On Commission from 2019 to present. Presently serve as Secretary of the Illinois County Treasurers Association and formerly chaired its Technology Enhancements Committee. Served on the Illinois Secretary of State Transition Team for Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias. Member of the Board of Directors for the Lake County Coordinated Transportation Services Committee. Director, Vernon Township. Village Trustee from 2013 to 2018.
I do not believe the offices should be combined. Before 1970, Illinois concentrated fiscal authority in a single role that both held state funds and kept the books, combining custody and oversight in one office. The 1970 Constitutional Convention intentionally split that structure into the modern Comptroller and Treasurer to create a clear system of checks and balances because of the embezzlement of roughly $56 million dollars. The Comptroller independently keeps the books and authorizes spending, while the Treasurer safeguards and invests state funds. Keeping the offices separate strengthens transparency, accountability, and public confidence. Combining them would weaken oversight at a time when trust in government remains fragile.
Transparency is essential to public trust, and voters deserve to know who funds campaigns and whether strings are attached. I am the only candidate in this race not taking special interest money or tied to corporate or political power brokers. As of mid February 2026, our campaign is powered by more than 1,100 grassroots donors, reflecting my commitment to independence and accountability to the people.
While the Comptroller does not oversee campaign finance laws, the office and the elected must model ethical leadership and responsible stewardship of public dollars. As Comptroller, I would uphold those same standards and ensure Illinois finances operate with integrity and honesty, just as I have as County Treasurer and in my campaigns.
Having a child in college while relying on social services like WIC, Medicaid, Head Start, LIHEAP, and the EITC gave me a lived understanding of how late payments hurt families, nonprofits, and seniors first. I experienced firsthand that when the state delays payments, working families, childcare providers, clinics, schools, social service agencies, and the people who rely on them all suffer.
I have delivered tangible results in government for more than a decade by changing systems in ways people can actually see and benefit from. As Comptroller, I will ensure bills are paid on time and predictably, prioritizing social service providers and small businesses operating on thin margins so they can keep their doors open for the people.
Trust is built by showing up. I have traveled across Illinois, earning the support of more than 100 elected officials, organizations, and unions because accountability begins with accessibility. As Comptroller, I will pair that presence with modern transparency through livestream town halls, plain language budget explainers, podcasts, and real time responses to questions and misinformation.
Under my leadership, the Comptroller’s Office will publish clear benchmarks for payment timeliness, backlog reduction, and operational efficiency with regular public reporting. Transparency also means ethical leadership. I will maintain strong internal controls, support independent audits, and ensure the office operates free from political interference.
With the damage caused by the Trump Administration and declining trust in government, it is more important than ever to avoid political spin. People expect a financial professional to be honest about the state of our finances, whether the news is good or bad.
The Comptroller can use its executive role as the state’s bill payer and financial watchdog to strengthen accountability and transparency. By modernizing payment systems, auditing high cost contracts, highlighting the real cost of delayed payments, and clearly connecting spending to outcomes, the office can lower costs, stabilize providers, and make life more affordable for working people while remaining committed to strengthening the state’s Rainy Day Fund as Comptroller Mendoza has.
While there have been discussions about combining the Treasurer and Comptroller offices, I believe these offices should stay separate. Unfortunately, there have been instances of fraud when these offices are combined, including recently in Dixon, Illinois, and combining the offices could also negatively impact our credit rating. It’s in the best interest of our state and our taxpayers for these offices to stay separate.
I support the current laws we have in place for campaign finance disclosure which require disclosure of all expenditures and receipts in aggregate of $150 or over in each quarter and more regular reporting of contributions of $1,000 and above, and would be open to exploring additional transparency measures. I believe these functions fall within the purview of the Illinois State Board of Elections. I would not involve the Comptroller’s Office in these implementations as this would seem to be an unnecessary duplication of efforts. I am always open to collaboration with other state agencies and offices if it results in greater efficiency, transparency, and value for taxpayers.
Since the three-year Rauner budget impasse, bills are paid on time, Illinois has received 10 credit rating upgrades, and we’ve made meaningful investments in the Rainy Day Fund and our pension liability. I am proactively looking at changes to the Vendor Payment Program, a program that allows the Comptroller to work with financial institutions so invoices are paid on-time for our small vendors and nonprofits, if we ever face revenue shortfalls. Invoices received by the state should be paid as soon as possible to avoid interest fees and to make sure our service providers continue to operate.
The current software programs do not communicate with other constitutional offices or departments. By integrating the Comptroller’s system with these other ones, we can increase transparency and efficiency. Ultimately, my goal would be to implement a “Budget to Bill” public-facing software interface system where anyone could see where in the life cycle public dollars are, from the time they are appropriated to when the Comptroller’s Office pays the bill. This is a system that is utilized in other states, and one that I believe can increase trust in our state government.
In addition to the “Budget to Bill” tool, we can proactively change the Vendor Payment Program to prevent financial firms from selectively purchasing receivables to ensure the program is accessible to minority-owned, woman-owned and smaller businesses. Predictive financial modeling can help anticipate risk and identify opportunities through state programs where we are not receiving a federal match, evaluating openings to refinance existing debt at lower interest rates, and flagging emerging fiscal pressures before they become catastrophic. I would advocate issuing pension obligation bonds to refinance a portion of the unfunded pension liability, provided we can borrow at an interest rate lower than the cost of carrying the liability.
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