By MICHAEL HAWTHORNE

Managing the state's checkbook

Democrat Earlean Collins wants to end 'frivolous' spending'; Republican Loleta Didrickson seeks to collect delinquent debt. Mostly, the press yawns at race for state comptroller

Earlean Collins and Loleta Didrickson, the major party candidates for Illinois comptroller, say the office needs broad new powers to manage the state's money. But they differ on what that new authority should entail.

The office's chief function is issuing checks to cover the state's bills, including paychecks for some 120,000 state workers. Collins, a Democratic state senator from Chicago, is pushing legislation to give the comptroller the ability to deny payment of bills deemed "wasteful or frivolous." She is vague about what might be considered wasteful spending, but promises to name a panel of state officials and representatives of government watchdog groups that would establish such criteria. As an example, she cited $15,000 worth of tropical plants Didrickson rented as director of the Illinois Department of Employment Security from 1991 to 1993.

Meanwhile, Didrickson wants the comptroller to become more involved in collecting overdue debts to state government. A report by the current comptroller, Democrat Dawn dark Netsch, estimated debtors owed state agencies $2.7 billion at the end of March. Although her proposal is general, Didrickson said the General Assembly should give the comptroller authority to work with the attorney general and state agencies to speed up debt collection. She says the proposal mirrors one of her accomplishments at the state unemployment agency, which hired accountants to pursue scofflaws.

During her tenure, collection of unpaid debts to the agency jumped from $34 million to $48 million a year, according to records supplied by her campaign. Most of the money was owed by businesses required to contribute to an unemployment insurance fund for laid-off workers.

Both candidates pledged to upgrade the comptroller's computer system. Collins also wants to curtail "lapse period spending," the practice of paying outstanding bills with revenue from a new budget year.

The new comptroller will replace Netsch, who is running for governor. Like their counterparts in the state treasurer's race, Collins and Didrickson have had trouble attracting media attention to their campaigns. A Didrickson spokesman even sent a letter to reporters chiding them for ignoring the candidate throughout the summer.

Most coverage of the race through the beginning of September focused on Collins' error-riddled campaign finance reports. Republicans filed a complaint with the state Board of Elections in August claiming Collins' finance statement for January 1 to June 30 failed to list $9,650 in donations. The GOP complaint also suggests Collins may have failed to reimburse the state for using a portion of her Senate district office for campaign work. Although her campaign committee telephone rings in the district office, Collins said the bill isn't paid out of state funds. She has filed several amended reports in an attempt to clarify the matter.

Didrickson accused Collins of maintaining sloppy campaign finance records and questioned the Democrat's ability to manage paying the state's bills. Collins blamed the mistakes on a campaign treasurer she has since fired.

Collins, 56, won her party's nomination for comptroller by beating Kane County Coroner Mary Lou Kearns in the primary election. She's seeking to become the first African-American woman elected to statewide office. A member of the Senate since 1987, Collins was an assistant majority leader before Republicans took control of the chamber in 1992. She has a bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Collins is divorced and has one son.

Didrickson, 53, didn't have a primary opponent. She was a state representative from Flossmoor for eight years before Gov. Jim Edgar picked her to head the state unemployment agency. During her tenure in the General Assembly, she specialized in business issues as the minority spokeswoman on the House Labor and Commerce Committee. Didrickson earned a bachelor of arts degree from Governors State University. She and her husband, Charlie, have three grown children.

The Libertarian candidate for comptroller is Michael Ginsberg of Palatine, an analyst in the legal and purchasing depart- ments at United Airlines. Ginsberg says he wants to cut the size of state government by freezing discretionary spending and increasing the productivity of state workers.