Did Pritzker's $10 Million, Clout Jobs Buy Madigan's Influence?

CHICAGO — In January, Gov. J.B. Pritzker predicted what might happen to people with connections to the "poisonous" culture of corruptions pervasive in Illinois politics.

"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 back then.

The governor didn't mention folks who kick in, say, $10 million to keep the culture of corruption a well-funded machine.

He didn't talk about politicians who seem to be entangled in the same kind of dealings at the center of the allegations found in the federal deferred-prosecution agreement with ComEd — giving jobs and money to support the will of House Speaker Michael Madigan for legislative favors.

But those people deserve a day of reckoning, too. And Pritzker is one of them.

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On Friday, Pritzker was quick to call for Madigan's resignation, if the crimes ComEd admitted to are true, that is.

Madigan hasn't been charged with a crime, and he has denied any wrongdoing.

Still, the governor's news conference performance seemed aimed at convincing Illinoisans that, unlike Madigan, he's one of those public servants responding to the "high calling" to serve a "sacred trust to put the people first."

Instead, the governor came across as desperate to distance himself from an unfortunate truth: Pritzker and Madigan have been political cohorts since the billionaire won the 2018 Democratic primary.

After Pritzker got elected, Madigan's spokesman admitted to the Tribune that even though you don't see the House speaker and then-governor-elect together much, the pair "spend a lot of time planning campaign strategy and planning campaign operations."

Whatever that strategizing entailed, campaign finance documents show it resulted in Pritzker pitching in $10.17 million to a pair of campaign funds controlled by Madigan in November 2018.

Pritzker doesn't talk about the $10 million in donations to Madigan. He doesn't mention the influential Madigan loyalist in his Cabinet, Deputy Gov. Dan Hynes, son of the late Tom Hynes, a former state Senate president, Cook County assessor, 19th Ward boss and longtime Madigan ally, not necessarily in that order. In 2003, the House speaker endorsed Dan Hynes for the U.S. Senate over Barack Obama.

Pritzker also doesn't have much to say about the dozens of people on a clout list recommended by Madigan who ended up on the state payroll, according to WBEZ.

His spin machine tried to dismiss the WBEZ clout list story as a cheap hit piece for insinuating people only got jobs because they "enjoyed Madigan's blessing," part of an "easy narrative that has been reported administration after administration." And, for the most part, it worked.

But now, similarities between Pritzker's dealings with Madigan and those found in the ongoing federal corruption probe allegations seem to suggest that the "easy narrative," as Pritzker's spokeswoman put it, of a jobs-for-influence clout list also could be true.

In ComEd's guilty plea, the public utility admitted that it gave jobs, contracts and cash to folks beloved by the House speaker to help secure legislative benefits that prosecutors valued at $150 million.

Pritzker put Madigan's preferred bureaucrats on the state payroll. He bankrolled about a third of the state Democratic Party's 2018 legislative campaigns that Madigan controls.

And, in the end, Madigan proved instrumental in helping the rookie governor pass an ambitious agenda — legalizing weed, boosting the gas tax and hiking vehicle registration fees to fund $45 million in infrastructure projects, clearing previously insurmountable legislative hurdles that stood in the way of approving a Chicago casino and a constitutional amendment to change the state income tax structure — in less than two years.

Is it a political coincidence or evidence of an association with a corrupt culture?

So far, Pritzker has avoided that debate by getting out ahead of it. He was among the first to say he was "deeply troubled" and "furious" about news reports linking Madigan to the ComEd guilty plea.

Despite the governor's alleged anger, Pritzker didn't demand his $10 million in campaign contributions back. He didn't urge the state Democratic Party to oust Madigan as chairman. Pritzker didn't even order state lawmakers to get moving on the ethics reform he promised but never delivered on because Madigan won't have it.

Instead, Pritzker publicly asked Madigan to cooperate with the federal probe — which the Sun-Times reported is connected to the same investigation that resulted in corruption charges against Chicago Ald. Edward Burke — and answer all questions "as quickly as possible."

The governor has never seemed to be in a hurry to push ethics reform. What's Pritzker's rush?

Well, Pritzker's connection to Madigan — and the House speaker's connection to the ComEd guilty plea — could have a Burke-like effect on the referendum on the graduated income tax on the November election ballot.

Last year, the Chicago mayoral election got turned on its ear when Burke was hit with federal corruption charges, accused of shaking down a Burger King owner for a $10,000 contribution to Cook County Democratic Party boss Toni Preckwinkle.

Thanks to the corruption probe, the mayor's race became a referendum on a corrupt political status quo that ended with political outsider Lori Lightfoot's shocking victory over clout-heavy candidates, including Preckwinkle and former Obama administration chief of staff Bill Daley.

With the same federal public corruption probe now circling Madigan, the powerful Democrat responsible for pushing Pritzker's historic income tax plan through the state House on a party-line vote, it's no wonder our governor is "furious" and "deeply troubled."

If Pritzker funded and tolerated a poisonous culture in Springfield to push his agenda, well, he should answer for his role in it.

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" docu-series on CNN, and a consulting producer on the Showtime documentary, "16 Shots.

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