Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka continues her state-wide re-election push this week.
The Republican kicked off her campaign tour Sunday in Chicago, and has more stops planned around the state.
Topinka says one priority is dealing with the state's 7-and-a-half-billion dollar backlog of overdue bills - and deciding which vendors get paid first.
"Sometimes we have to hold it together with bailing wire and bubblegum, but - and, uh, I mean I wanna kinda finish 'cause we've got other things we need to do. "
Topinka accuses Democratic Lieutenant Governor Sheila Simon of running for comptroller merely out of political convenience.

But Simon says she has her own ideas about how to make the office run more efficiently.
"The comptroller's office is not one that has a history of leading to other offices, so it's not a particularly good decision, unless you really wanna do the job. "
Comptroller Topinka is due to make stops across the state over the next two days, including in Marion tomorrow (Tuesday).