By Dave Dahl
SPRINGFIELD-Republicans can’t resist a new hit on Gov. JB Pritzker.
The governor, a billionaire, has handed over his assets to a blind trust, as was the case with his wealthy predecessor, Bruce Rauner.
A Better Government Association report says the Pritzker trust invested in Centene, a major Medicaid contractor. If true, it’s a conflict of interest.
“Just because he’s the governor and he’s a billionaire means nothing to any of us,” said State Rep. Tony McCombie (R-Savanna). And certainly in the case of the most vulnerable in the state – to think he’s actually profiting from the hardships and the medical care that the state is providing to Illinoisans? – is disgusting!!”
“He promised he was not going to sign (redistricting) maps drawn by politicians, and he has signed multiple maps drawn by politicians,” said State Rep. Tim Butler (R-Springfield). He’s broken his promise to the people of Illinois to be open and transparent, knowing about his conflicts of interest when it comes to his finances.”
The communications director of the Pritzker campaign, Natalie Edelstein, issued the following statement:
Today’s story by the BGA ignores and misstates critical details and completely mischaracterizes Governor Pritzker’s blind trust. Despite multiple attempts at clarifying that the Governor has no role in any investment decisions and only receives the information required by Illinois law to file his Statement of Economic Interest—which the BGA’s own article acknowledges––the BGA nonetheless knowingly misrepresented the facts.
Governor Pritzker did divest his personal portfolio of companies holding state contracts and then removed himself from all investment decisions. To suggest he broke “his campaign pledge” is false. The trustees provide Governor Pritzker only with an annual report of his assets, which contains no values, in order to sign his Statement of Economic Interests pursuant to the Illinois Governmental Ethics Act. The BGA is suggesting that because the governor is following the law, he is doing something wrong. Most assuredly if the governor did not file a Statement of Economic Interests, the BGA would be writing about how he was violating the law.
The story also misleadingly attempts to connect the Governor to a current debate in Congress over barring federal elected officials from making stock purchases. What the story fails to note is that this effort is being undertaken because members of Congress are personally engaged in trading stock, which Governor Pritzker is not. Governor Pritzker does not personally make any investments, nor has he been involved in any discussions at any time regarding any investments since taking office.
While we are gratified that the BGA has admitted that Governor Pritzker has no involvement in investment decisions, it is unfortunate that despite several good faith discussions with the BGA, they pursued a story that is not based in fact, but rather speculation. We’ve come to accept this type of reporting as the norm from this outlet-–an organization that has accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars from Ken Griffin, most recently accepting $100,000 from him in their latest tax filing, and did not disclose this relationship when the organization’s President and CEO wrote a story revealing Mr. Griffin’s endorsement in the Republican primary for Governor.
Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected].
