Dems Enchanted By Promise Of Pritzker's Wealth Overlook Failures

NEW MEXICO — I got word that Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker had announced plans to run for a second term in "The Land of Enchantment."

That's the state motto of New Mexico — where I took a break and checked Twitter on my summer storytelling tour of America — and not a reference to with the "Land of Make Believe," where I suspect Pritzker's spin wizards conjured up his re-election campaign messaging.

Like tales of aliens, chupacabras and Sasquatches that draw tourists to New Mexico, the Illinois governor's first-term fables about his "strong leadership," "equity-focused" policies and a coronavirus crisis response "guided by science" aim to attract voters attracted to myths.

Let's face it, a used-car salesman would have trouble selling Pritzker as a true champion of racial equity.

Pritzker is the same guy who the feds caught on a wiretap advising former Gov. Rod Blagojevich to pick the "least offensive" African American to replace Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate.

The white billionaire's first gubernatorial campaign is still fighting Black campaign workers in federal court who say they were victims of racial discrimination.

Maybe you remember the white staffer on Pritzker's last campaign who made the news for wearing what appeared to be black face in a social media post.

Wiretaps and lawsuits aside, Pritzker also promised Illinois' legalized weed laws would be the most "equity-centric" in the country and create "new millionaires in the Black community, in the Latino community, all across this state."

What actually happened was white businessmen with clout who could afford to buy into the cash-only weed industry cornered the market on selling dope sacks that an inequitable number of Black people went to jail for selling on street corners.

For years since, Pritzker ignored Black politicians who called him an "epic failure" and filed lawsuits to change the way marijuana licenses were dolled out to only white guys.

To be fair, the governor did side with Black leaders calling for pot-license equity in the months leading up to his re-election announcement, when his approval ratings happened to be the lowest among governors in the most populous states.

Coincidence? Not a chance. It's just one example of Pritzker's "fakequity" problem that his campaign doesn't want Black voters to remember before going to the polls.

The governor repeatedly failed to deliver on public promises to boost coronavirus testing in Black and Latino enclaves hit the hardest by the pandemic. Pritzker had to be bullied into delivering testing sites in the 60620 ZIP code in African American neighborhoods where people got sick and died from coronavirus complications at alarming rates.

Pritzker also tried to convince the public that his plan to allow all Illinois residents to get COVID-19 vaccines at the United Center made the shots more accessible to Chicagoans of color.

As things turned out, 63 percent of the people who made initial appointments at the United Center lived outside Chicago. About 75 percent of the non-Chicagoans who signed up to get shots were either white or Asian American, public health officials said.

After Pritzker got shooed away from the United Center site, he set COVID-19 vaccination distribution rules that created "Hunger Games" scenarios in counties across the state for people fighting to get in line for jabs that weren't available yet.

To be fair, it's true the governor's pandemic response may have been better crafted than his Republican contemporaries in neighboring states — Indiana, Iowa, Wisconsin and Missouri, among them.

But Pritzker's claim that his coronavirus policies were guided by science never jibed with reality. Throughout the pandemic, Pritzker's administration fudged coronavirus test totals, and used misleading data to grab headlines while governing by executive orders.

World-renowned epidemiologist Sarah Cobey who advised the governor's pandemic response warned the metrics guiding his administration's decisions were "not scientifically founded."

Cobey said Pritzker's administration was "pretty adamant that actual science is too much."

Her prophecy that the Pritzker administration would lose "scientific accuracy and probably credibility in the long run" was proven true over and over again during the coronavirus crisis.

Pandemic politics aside, the governor also suffered a string of political losses during his first term that makes his campaign-trial claim of "strong leadership" during difficult times a stretch.

Voters rejected his $56 million marketing campaign to convince them to approve an income tax hike he tried to sell as "fair."

Pritzker couldn't influence his own party to back his pick for state Senate president, Sen. Kimberly Lightford, over Sen. Don Harmon — who didn't support the billionaire in the 2018 gubernatorial election.

Illinois Democratic Party Central Committee members balked at the governor's intensive lobbying effort to have his preferred candidate, Chicago Ald. Michelle Harris, take over as state party boss for Madigan.

Pritzker talked a big game about going after the corrupt status quo that infects Illinois politics, particularly Chicago Democrats.

"Those who protect the culture. Those who tolerate it. Those who promote it. Well, they'll have to answer for their role in it," Pritzker said in January 2020.

Since then, the governor signed a legislative "compromise" that he called progress, but arguably makes Illinois more susceptible to corruption.

And last month — days after I pointed out that the governor's signature on an ethics reform bill resulted from a deal with status-quo advocates and Madigan folks who populate his inner circle — the re-election campaign preparation continued.

Deputy Gov. Dan Hynes — the Madigan loyalist in Pritzker's cabinet credited for crafting many of the governor's legislative successes — abruptly resigned before Pritzker made his re-election bid Twitter-official.

Over the last several months, Pritzker — the strong leader — has bent to the will of public employee unions, most notably the socialist political party known as the Chicago Teachers Union.

Against the wishes of Chicago's mayor, Pritzker made it easier for CTU to go on strike by signing legislation the union spent $800,000 in taxpayer-funded dues lobbying to pass.

Just last month, Pritzker again showed off his strong leadership skills by remaining on vacation at an undisclosed location rather than visiting the suburbs hit by deadly tornadoes.

Despite all the governor's weaknesses, failures and displays of "fakequity," Illinois status quo Democrats remain enchanted by Pritzker.

Even U.S. Rep Robin Kelly — the state Democratic Party chairwoman Pritzker didn't want — put out a statement declaring Pritzker is "the leader we need to continue making progress in Illinois, and Illinois Democrats are excited to re-elect him Governor of our great state."

Sweating profusely at a rest stop on Interstate 10, I wondered why powerful folks who support Pritzker are willing to overlook his actions.

Then, I saw video of NBC 5 political reporter Mary Ann Ahern asking Pritzker how much of his inherited wealth he planned to spend on his re-election bid and got my answer.

"I'm focused on running a robust campaign to make sure that we elect Democrats up and down the ticket," Pritzker said.

"Not just myself, but as you know we have constitutional officers running for re-election, and then people who are running for county board seats and people who running for state [representative] and state senate."

Nothing — not even the prospect of spotting Big Foot in New Mexico— is more enchanting than a billionaire running for re-election in Illinois.

Our state needs a new motto: Everybody's For Sale.

Mark Konkol, recipient of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for local reporting, wrote and produced the Peabody Award-winning series "Time: The Kalief Browder Story." He was a producer, writer and narrator for the "Chicagoland" docuseries on CNN and a consulting producer on the Showtime documentary "16 Shots."

This summer, follow KONKOL ON THE ROAD:

• Anthony Potenzo Escaped Chicago To Find Happiness In New Orleans
• Texas Rockers Rally For Producer Who Survived High-Voltage Shock
• The Tale Of Mary Ann And The Ospreys Of Arvilla Resort Motel
• Politics Of Violence In Chicago Has Status Quo Pushing For A Boss
• Catching Up With Chicago Celebrity Alligator Robb In The Wild
• The Search For IL Gov. Pritzker In Florida's Equestrian Capital
• Finding Romance On The Road At Giant Beaver-Themed Gas Station
• Activist Jedidiah Brown Ended 'Abusive' Relationship With Chicago
• In Atlanta, Everybody Influences Everything For Better And Worse
• It's 'Insane' Chicago Isn't The Sweet Home Of A Blues Museum
• Time To Drive — Out Of The Land Of Fakequity and Faux Reforms