Everything Tied To Madigan Deserves Scrutiny, Including Pritzker

CHICAGO — “Everything that is tied to Madigan is called into question.”

That’s right, state Rep. Anne Williams said it.

And it sure doesn’t help Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s re-election campaign.

On Monday, just days before former House Speaker Michael Madigan’s arraignment on federal racketeering charges, Williams called on Pritzker to freeze spending on $144 million in infrastructure projects that a Better Government Association investigation found closely linked to Madigan, some that may have benefited the former speaker’s law firm clients.

A day later, Pritzker — whose cozy relationship with Madigan helped pass the $45 billion “Rebuild Illinois” legislation, funded by a gasoline tax hike, during the governor’s first year in office — quickly did what he was asked.

“At the request of members of the General Assembly who voted for the capital plan, the administration will freeze the funding for the projects outlined in their letter,” Pritzker spokesperson Jordan Abudayyeh told BGA in an email Tuesday. She provided no more details.

Let me help with that.

What Illinois voters are witnessing in the wake of Madigan’s indictment is the latest in a series of moves by a governor who appears to be trying to distance himself from connections to the indicted power broker largely responsible for successfully pushing Pritzker’s legislative agenda.

In recent weeks, for instance, Pritzker publicly ditched Madigan’s wife as head of the Illinois Arts Council shortly after being interrogated by the feds as a “witness” in their massive political corruption investigation that led to the former House speaker’s indictment.

The reason? The governor plans to take the arts council, which Shirley Madigan had led since 1983, in a new direction.

In late February, around the time the governor was interviewed about his dealings with Madigan by federal investigators, Pritzker accepted the resignation of Illinois Tollway Authority board chairman Will Evans.

Pritzker appointed the former People’s Gas executive in part because he was “strongly endorsed” by John Hooker, the Sun-Times reported at the time.

MORE ON PATCH: From Mailroom Clerk To Indicted Power Broker: A Clout Story

Hooker, the former Chicago Housing Authority board president turned lobbyist, was indicted as part of the same corruption probe that levied racketeering charges against Madigan. He also gave his strong endorsement to Jose Alvarez, the former Chicago Housing Authority chief of staff, whom Pritzker picked to run the tollway’s day-to-day operations.

And now — as Republicans push Pritzker’s connection to Madigan as a key campaign issue — the governor has quickly bowed to pressure from the same Democratic lawmakers who successfully shoved the former speaker from his long-held seat of power.

Maybe Pritzker has realized that what Rep. Williams said is true: “Everything that is tied to Madigan is called into question.”

And that includes Pritzker’s administration.

MORE ON PATCH: Pritzker's $7M Connection To Madigan Is 'Elephant In The Room'

During Pritzker’s first term, Madigan loyalist Dan Hynes — son of the late Tom Hynes, a former state Senate president, Cook County assessor, 19th Ward boss and longtime Madigan ally — served as deputy governor.

Pritzker appointed nearly three dozen people named on Madigan's clout list, including Shirley Madigan, to state posts, according to WBEZ.

The governor donated $10 million to Madigan-controlled campaign funds.

No amount of resignations, funding freezes and “new directions” connected to the former House speaker will erase Pritzker’s political and multimillion-dollar financial ties that bound his administration to Madigan.

At least, not during an election year.

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.

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