Pritzker's $7M Connection To Madigan Is 'Elephant In The Room'

CHICAGO — Federal witness J.B. Pritzker was not accused of a crime in the racketeering indictment of former Democratic Party boss and longtime House Speaker Michael Madigan, who prosecutors say leveraged political might to run a money-making criminal enterprise.

"There is no allegation in this indictment against the governor or his staff," U.S. Attorney John Lausch said at a Thursday news conference. He clarified that his comments refer to the "four corners of the indictment." Lausch also said the investigation is ongoing.

Illinois' billionaire governor has been in a similar position with the feds before.

Pritzker got caught on an FBI wiretap lobbying former Gov. Rod Blagojevich for a political appointment and making off-color remarks about African American politicians.

He's been investigated over allegations that he had toilets removed from one of his mansions to dodge paying $330,000 in property taxes.

And last month, as sitting governor, Pritzker was interrogated by prosecutors about his dealings with Madigan's alleged criminal enterprise. All without being charged with a crime.

On Thursday, I talked to Blagojevich about Pritzker's repeated run-ins with the feds.

"If Prtizker isn't part of the Democratic Party's criminal enterprise, then what is he?" I asked.

"The elephant in the room," Blagojevich deadpanned.

Felony corruption convictions aside, Blagojevich's six years in the governor's mansion provided him with an insider's view of the Madigan "enterprise," as the federal indictment calls it.

"As a governor who knew what it was like to link men and women to boards and commissions, who knew what it was like to work with Madigan, and work against Madigan, which is what I spent most of my time doing. … Pritzker does not have clean hands in this," Blagojevich said.

"I knew what Madigan was about … I was dealing with a cynical politician who was all about serving himself, his politics and making himself wealthy, his family wealthy and his friends wealthy. And that's how he created that political empire in Springfield, with himself in the center. … Pritzker knows that. The difference with Pritzker and me is I wouldn't play ball with Madigan. Pritzker not only played ball with Madigan, he gave him $7 million."

That $7 million check Pritzker cut to the Madigan controlled "Democratic Majority" campaign fund days after being elected in 2018 is the pachyderm in the parlor the governor doesn't talk about.

When a reporter on Thursday asked Pritzker what Illinoisans should know about his interrogation by federal investigators, the governor didn't provide a single detail about what questions he was asked during the hour-long chat.

"Only that I was asked to be a witness and that they wanted to know about any interactions [with Madigan]," Pritzker said, repeatedly pausing to look down at the podium. "I was happy to cooperate and answer any and all of their questions. I've answered all of them, in fact. And if you want more details about what those questions were, I refer you to the U.S. Attorney's Office for any additional information."

A U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman, as expected, didn't reply to a query about what investigators asked Pritzker.

But what we know from the indictment is that Madigan was caught on a wiretap talking to former Chicago alderman turned federal mole, Danny Solis, about his plan to advise Pritzker to appoint Solis to a high-paying position on a state board.

On Nov. 23, 2018, Madigan was recorded telling Solis he planned to meet with Pritzker to tell the then-governor elect "what's coming next." It didn't "need to be in writing. I can just verbally tell him," the indictment quoted Madigan as saying.

That secretly recorded conversation occurred two weeks after Pritzker wrote the $7 million check to Madigan's campaign fund.

About a month after the then-House Speaker was recorded talking about meeting with Pritzker, the governor tapped a Madigan loyalist as deputy governor, Dan Hynes. He's the 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, Madigan endorsed Dan Hynes for the U.S. Senate over Barack Obama.

Also, around that time, Madigan sent Pritzker's transition team a clout list of insiders to be appointed to state jobs and boards. Pritzker appointed nearly three dozen people named on Madigan's clout list to state posts, WBEZ reported.

In all, the governor donated $10 million to Madigan controlled campaign funds.

And Pritzker seemed to have had an easier time advancing his legislative agenda than any governor — either Republican or Democrat — since Madigan became state House speaker 35 years ago.

During Pritzker's first two years in office, 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.

Madigan also helped Pritzker clear previously insurmountable legislative hurdles that stood in the way of approving a Chicago casino and getting a constitutional amendment to change the state income tax structure on the ballot, which voters ultimately rejected.

Not that the feds have alleged there's anything illegal about that.

Still, the governor's cozy relationship with Madigan could mean real trouble for Pritzker.

Recent history tells us, being this/close to the federal indictment of a powerful politician once considered untouchable can have drastic election-day consequences.

Just ask Cook County Democratic Party Boss Toni Preckwinkle.

She was the supposed front-runner in the mayoral election to replace Rahm Emanuel after the feds indicted powerful Southwest Side ward boss Edward Burke in part for allegedly shaking down a Burger King owner for a $10,000 donation to Preckwinkle's campaign fund.

Preckwinkle wasn't charged with a crime.

Still, she lost the mayoral election to Lori Lightfoot in a landslide.

Now, the feds' shoutout to the governor in the 22-count indictment against Madigan leaves Pritzker in a Preckwinkle-like predicament in an election year.

Pritzker's financial relationship with the Madigan "enterprise" might not be a felony.

But there's evidence that the governor paid to play politics the Madigan way.

In America's most corrupt state, voters will decide Pritzker's fate.

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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