On Hitler, Pritzker And What All The Shouting Is Really About

CHICAGO — Gov. J.B. Pritzker is under attack.

Some angry protesters openly compared him to Hitler at a rally against his months-long coronavirus stay-home order they say is stealing their freedom.

Not only is that kind of hate-filled rhetoric vile and unacceptable, it allows Pritzker to easily dismiss valid criticism of his leadership as the musings of anti-Semitic mob of right-wing radicals.

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There are real reasons to criticize the governor, decisions he's made and promises he's broken while managing the state's coronavirus pandemic by executive order.

Things might be different if only the governor gave Illinoisans more honesty from the start, cooperated with fellow Democrats and political rivals instead of “going it alone,” and held himself truly accountable to the people during a global pandemic unprecedented in our lifetime.

Pritzker deserves the credit he takes for decisive actions that probably saved lives as the coronavirus spread to Illinois. As much as the stay-home order feels like torture, there’s little doubt that the executive mandate has been effective easing the potential strain on hospitals and protecting vulnerable populations from serious consequences.

For the sake of my elderly parents, my 93-year-old grandma, and my sister the nurse, you won’t hear me rally against Pritzker’s stay-home order or shouting for Mayor Lori Lightfoot to open up the lakefront.

But the governor still needs to be held accountable for his mistakes, broken promises and an alarming lack of transparency at the heart of why many people don’t trust him to have so much unchecked power.

Pritzker and his tight circle of bureaucrats don’t respond well to public criticism and critical questions. When confronted the governor evades, ignores and moves without taking responsibility for his miscalculations, inadequacies and failures.

Remember, Pritzker turned a deaf ear to state election officials who called for postponing the March primary on the same day he shut down restaurants and bars, and just before announcing a statewide stay-home order. His chief of staff took to Twitter to accuse a Chicago election official of playing politics for raising concerns for the safety of voters and workers in crowded polling places.

In April, the governor made promises to quickly increase testing in black communities that he knew he couldn’t keep, and moved on without fully acknowledging that failure.

Pritzker balked at calling a special legislative session when some folks started to question whether governing by executive order gives one branch of government too much authority.

And when a downstate lawmaker asked a judge to rule on whether there’s a clock ticking on Pritzker’s authority to rule by executive order, the governor accused the farmer of grandstanding from his televised bully pulpit.

Then, there’s the issue of first lady, M.K. Pritzker, living in Florida and visiting Wisconsin during her husband’s stay-home order in “All-in Illinois” that roiled angry protesters who call him a hypocrite.

If only the governor had leveled with us that his wife and daughter were at their $12.1 million equestrian estate back when he issued the stay-at-home order, there might not be a controversy at all.

Even people who don’t know what it’s like to be a billionaire with multiple mansions and a private jet can relate to how hard it is being separated from their families during the coronavirus crisis.

Instead, Pritzker kept it secret, and relied on what he thought was a code-of-silence between political reporters and politicians to keep his private affairs from public conversations.

When he was asked about his wife’s whereabouts and whether taxpayers are footing the bill for an out-of-state security detail, the governor responded with hostility and defiant silence.

Pritzker’s angry refusal to reply may have hushed the Illinois press corps, but it didn’t have the desired effect with regular folks and his political rivals. He poured gas on smoldering discontent in his leadership and anger over the hypocrisy of his family’s travel between mansions in Florida, Wisconsin and Chicago’s Gold Coast.

An emissary from a Republican Super PAC called me asking to publish more details of Pritzker’s time spent in Florida. The Trump administration was very interested in using the issue to slam Pritzker, I was told. My unwillingness to participate in an orchestrated partisan attack did not deter them.

They exerted enough pressure that on Friday the governor broke his silence on a controversy arguably created by his own lack of transparency that further eroded trust in his leadership.

He said that his family was now visiting their “working farm” to tend to animals, which he described as an essential activity under his executive order.

What he didn’t mention is that farm — a mansion with room for horse jumping — is in Wisconsin, where that state’s supreme court overruled stay-home orders.

It’s that kind of omitted detail that gives his detractors truth on their side when they vent on social media — and at protest rallies waving signs adorned with swastikas — that Pritzker isn’t being completely honest with Illinoisans.

That’s the little stuff that makes folks wonder what else Pritzker isn’t telling them.

It breeds the kind of mistrust that can make everybody feel like a victim. Or worse, a sucker.

That’s what all the shouting is really about.

Mark Konkol, recipient of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for local reporting and Emmy-nominated producer, was a producer, writer and narrator for the "Chicagoland" docu-series on CNN. He was a consulting producer on the Showtime documentary, "16 Shots."

More from Mark Konkol:

• Bullying Gov. Pritzker Worked: Auburn Gresham Gets Testing Sites
• Should We Believe Gov. Pritzker's Coronavirus Testing Statistics?
• Pritzker Bungled Coronavirus Testing; Chicago To Boost Screenings
• Pritzker Brags As Coronavirus Testing In Minority Enclaves Lags
• Pritzker's Coronavirus Testing Push Missing Minority Hot Spots
• Gov. J.B. Pritzker Is Doing His Best Donald Trump Impression Now
• Does 'All-In Illinois' Slogan Apply To Billionaire Gov's Family?
• How To Avoid COVID '19 Pounds' During Extended Stay Home Order
• Don't Buy Gov's Coronavirus Test Promises Until Swab Goes Up Nose
• Pritzker Breaks Coronavirus Test Promise To Black Community
• Election Judge Hospitalized After Primary Dies Of Coronavirus
• Mayor's Haircut In Stay-At-Home Chicago, City Of Big Whiners
• Coronavirus Shutdown Gives Lightfoot Road Map To Chicago's Future
• My Sister The Nurse Is A Coronavirus Superhero Without Right Mask
• Coronavirus: Hey Wisconsin, Don't Make Illinois' Election Mistake
• Coronavirus: North Siders Just Won't Get It Until They Get 'It'
• If Parents Don't Obey Coronavirus Orders, Guilt Trips To Continue
• Not Even New Coronavirus Shut Down Can Stop Shootings In Chicago
• Pals Don't Let Pals Fall For Coronavirus Hoaxes On Social Media
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