Did You Know…?

I was 25 years old. I was inspired to run for the 1st District Illinois State House seat representing the southwest side of Chicago and Cicero. I wasn’t sure voters would take me seriously because of my age, but I gave it my best shot…and lost, but by only 55 votes against an incumbent.

I was thankful and motivated by the idea that thousands of people voted and believed in me, at only 25 years of age. Two years later, I ran again and won with 55% of the vote!

Read more about how I got into politics in this article: Kahn, M & Yaptangco, A. (2017, February 16). How a Misspelled Spanish-Language Flyer Convinced Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza to Run. Elle. Retrieved from www.elle.com.

I’m a foodie and love cooking. I LOVE soccer. Traveling with my husband makes me immensely happy.

I’m most passionate about being a great mom to our 9-year-old son, David Quinten. Did I say I love food?

At the age of seven. I fell in love with it. I was a self-proclaimed “total tomboy.” Since I primarily played on all-boys teams, soccer gave me the ability to build character and mental toughness at a very young age.

In high school, I was Captain of the Bolingbrook High School soccer team and played offensive center midfielder. I earned All-State and All-Midwest honors and as a result was the first girl to make it onto the Bolingbrook High School’s Wall of Fame. I went on to play at Truman State University with an academic and athletic scholarship.

Soccer taught me about discipline, respect, competitiveness, teamwork, and honing individual leadership skills. Who knew that my passion for soccer would so perfectly prepare me for the political world?

I’m a 1st generation Mexican American and thankfully my parents made it a priority to have a bilingual household. My two older brothers and I know how to read, write, and speak Spanish thanks to our parents’ at-home diligence.

Now that I’m a parent, my husband (who is learning Spanish) and I are raising our 9-year-old son in a bilingual household too. We both feel that it is very important and we are very proud to say that David Quinten is doing a wonderful job speaking and reading in Spanish.

The Illinois Comptroller is the state’s chief financial and accountability officer. In general, the Illinois Comptroller pays the state’s bills and monitors state funds. The Illinois Comptroller’s Office was created by the Constitutional Convention of 1970, replacing the Office of the Auditor of Public Accounts.

Since 1970, the Comptroller has been an independently elected officer serving a four-year term in the Executive Branch of state government and serves as an important check and balance. Illinois citizens vote for the Comptroller in statewide elections, along with the other five elected officials: Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, and Treasurer.

Click here to learn more about the Comptroller’s Office.

Yes. I love it. I’d say it’s a little harder now, but I have an incredibly supportive husband. Our son is nine and I want him to grow up knowing what his mom does.

I love people and I think the best ideas come from talking directly to them. As a public servant, I work for the public, not the other way around.

Passing my Debt Transparency Act was the most important transparency reform in the history of the Office of Illinois Comptroller. For the first time in the history of the state of Illinois, in the 2018 budget season, legislators were able to craft a budget with financial data as recent as the previous month, versus useless financial data almost a year old dating back to June 30th of the previous year.

I’m especially proud that I overrode Governor Rauner’s Veto of the Debt Transparency Act with unanimous bipartisan approval in the House of Representatives, a historic first unanimous veto override of a sitting governor in that chamber.

The Debt Transparency Act (DTA) set the stage for my success in navigating the state through the two worst fiscal crises in Illinois’ history – the 736 day budget impasse and the Covid-19 pandemic. Since passing the DTA, I’ve paid down the state’s backlog of unpaid bills down from a record high $16.7 billion to $3.5 at the end of the 2021 fiscal year, without using federal stimulus funds. I’ve delivered the fastest payment cycle in decades, down from 210 days when I took office to well under 30 days today. These accomplishments helped Illinois earn its first credit upgrades in over 20 years. While impressive in their own right, having attained them under the most challenging of circumstances, in the middle of a global pandemic, is nothing short of remarkable and something I am immensely proud of having delivered on for the great people of Illinois.

I was just thinking that I wanted to help the people at the scene of the crash and make sure this guy didn’t get away. My two older brothers taught me how to stand up to bullies when I was about 6 years old, and I’ve been doing it ever since. It’s in my nature to stand up and fight for who and what I believe in.

Obviously, he was way bigger than I was, so rather than engaging physically, I used my cell phone camera, my quick wits and said, “Say Cheese!”.

Watch the video: Kass, J. (2017, September 16). Column: Comptroller Mendoza confronts Chicago tough guy leaving crash scene with 2 magic words: Say cheese!. The Chicago Tribune. Retrieved from www.chicagotribune.com.