* News media Q&A in DeKalb today with Gov. Pritzker…
Q: When was the last time you spoke with Mike Madigan?
A: On March 1, I called to let him know that we would be making changes at the Illinois Arts Council.
Madigan’s spouse Shirley chairs the Arts Council, so I asked the governor’s office if that means she’s being pushed out. No response yet.
Also, as always, please pardon any transcription errors.
* Back to Q&A…
Q: You spoke voluntarily with federal investigators about the investigation. What do you think that people are going to need to know about the conversation you had?
A: Only that I was asked to be a witness and that they wanted to talk about any interactions. And I was happy to cooperate and answer any and all of their questions. I answered all of them, in fact, and if you want more detail about what those questions were, I’d refer you to the US Attorney’s Office for any additional information about them.
Q: Was it clear to you when you talked to the feds in February that they were poised to indict him?
A: It was not clear to me. I mean, they had questions that were obviously around some wrongdoing, but it was not clear to me that they were prepared to indict.
Q: In your dealings with Madigan, during your time in office, did you ever suspect in hindsight now that anything he was doing was not above board and that there was anything more than what he called routine constituent services?
A: Not from any of the interactions that I had with him. Remember, I was governor. He was Speaker of the House, there was a Senate President, there were leaders across the General Assembly, I needed to work with all of them. And so none of the interactions that I had were anything other than about, you know, things to do with doing the right thing in government for the people.
Q: The special investigative committee that closed the books on the Madigan investigation after ComEd came out. It was chaired by then State Representative Chris Welch. They closed that found and found nothing wrong. Was it a mistake in hindsight not to have Madigan called before and testified based on what we now know that there clearly was wrongdoing?
A: In a way I’d say it’s the reverse of that. That is, I think that they were deferring to the US attorney and to the federal authorities to allow them to make a case, and they clearly did.
* While we’re on that topic, here’s Capitol News Illinois…
On Wednesday after the indictment, Welch began his public remarks by addressing his role as the chair of that committee.
“Let me begin by first saying that, as the former chair of the Special Investigating Committee, I said all along, during the course of that process, that I thought that there was a more appropriate forum to deal with the things that we had been hearing in the public domain,” he said in a news conference outside his Capitol office. “And I thought that forum was the United States Attorney’s Office. The United States Attorney’s Office has all the resources that it needs to properly and thoroughly investigate allegations of corruption. I knew that all along.”
Welch said the House has passed ethics reforms since he became speaker and hired a new legislative inspector general. He said he believed he led the investigating committee “openly, honestly and fairly.”
“And we’re going to continue to do that,” he said. “And I think here in the last 13 months, you can speak to our colleagues on both sides of the aisle. I’ve done it my way. The Chris Welch way. The only way I know how. And it’s a new day in Springfield.”
* Back to Pritzker…
Q: Do you ever remember a conversation where you were asked to find a position for Danny Solis?
A: No.
Q: Since Mike Madigan has had a piece in legislation for the past 50 years, he helped write the modern constitution, what would you say to Illinois, to restore faith in the legislative process?
A: Well remember that the vast majority of the people who serve in the General Assembly and broadly in public office have been doing the right thing and not breaking the law, and doing what they felt was best for the people of the state of Illinois. So I would say that you should look to your local leaders who have been doing the right thing, to your state leaders who are operating above board and trying hard to lift up working families across the state and not line their own pockets. But I have to say just, I’ve said this many times, but it is abhorrent to me when people take public office, either with the purpose of lining their own pockets or stealing from the public or who decided somewhere along the way that that’s okay. That’s abhorrent. We’ve got to root that out. And at every turn, I think it’s all up to all of us who, if we run into situations where we think something’s being done that is improper, please call it out, please let people know. And of course, vote those people out if they are caught doing something wrong, they need to go.
Q: Should Madigan resign from the state central committee?
A: Yes, of course.
Q: There are a number of Democrats who say there still needs to be more work to be done. Do you agree with them, and if so, what more needs to be done in light of what we’ve seen come out of how Madigan… and return to the public trust?
A: I think we all need to examine what the charges are. I will say that the federal authorities, you know, the fact that there are laws that hold people accountable, and that they’re getting held accountable is evidence that, we at least in part, through the justice system, have ways of catching people and holding them accountable. But there is much more to do. And I’ve said that from the very beginning. I’ve been pushing for ethics legislation, we got some of it done. There is more to do. There’s no doubt about it. We got rid of the revolving door. Could we do more in that regard? Sure. We’ve stopped people from lobbying state government when they’re serving in state government. We’ve done a number of things that I think have made things better, but we’ve got much, much more to do and it’s clear from the an indictment like this, that our work is not done.
Q: [Garbled]
A: This should be a wake up call to everybody in public service that you better toe the line, you better do the right thing, you better stand up for the people that you represent and not try to line your own pockets.
* Rep. Kelly Cassidy was asked last night about the inadequacies of the recent ethics legislation…
I think that we took significant steps. There’s always more that can be done. Illinois, for good or for ill, and for some of us it’s a frustration, is an incremental state. But we take steps, we see if they work, we take more steps.
* And this is why the governor was in DeKalb today…
Gov. JB Pritzker made a stop in DeKalb Thursday to tout a plan for funding more Illinois students in higher education, including at Northern Illinois University.
He presented his plan to budget for an additional $200 million in state education funding for grants which make college more affordable for students to address what he called an “exodus on young people” leaving Illinois.
- OneMan - Thursday, Mar 3, 22 @ 3:28 pm:
== Gov. JB Pritzker made a stop in DeKalb Thursday to tout a plan for funding more Illinois students in higher education, including at Northern Illinois University ==
Build the school of Nursing a new building.
== He presented his plan to budget for an additional $200 million in state education funding for grants which make college more affordable for students to address what he called an “exodus on young people” leaving Illinois. ==
I think you would find the “exodus of young people” leaving Illinois does not have nearly as much to do with the cost of attending a state school as it does with the perceived quality of some state schools and the difficulty in getting into one in particular. Based on observations of classmates of both my kids (mine both ended up at Kansas) it wasn’t that going to an out-of-state school was significantly less expensive, but for what they wanted to study they found them ‘better’ schools. However, depending on the state and your level of academic achievement going to an out-of-state state school could be less expensive than some state schools in Illinois.
Improve the quality, improve the educational facilities and then see an improvement in the exodus.
- Lucky Pierre - Thursday, Mar 3, 22 @ 3:33 pm:
Remember the vast majority of people serving in the General Assembly and broadly in public office have been doing the right thing and not breaking the law?
Is that the best we can do?
- de Gaulle - Thursday, Mar 3, 22 @ 3:42 pm:
This will unfortunately be coming up the entire campaign season.
- Henry Francis - Thursday, Mar 3, 22 @ 3:55 pm:
== Remember the vast majority of people serving in the General Assembly and broadly in public office have been doing the right thing and not breaking the law?
Is that the best we can do?==
Who would be silly enough to say that?
- The Velvet Frog - Thursday, Mar 3, 22 @ 4:03 pm:
If it’s in response to the (silly) question about whether all legislation passed in the last fifty years is somehow suspect because of one guy? Then yeah, there’s nothing wrong with that answer.
- Donnie Elgin - Thursday, Mar 3, 22 @ 4:03 pm:
=did you ever suspect in hindsight now that anything he was doing was not above board… Not from any of the interactions that I had with him=
This is a clearly thoughtful and likely scripted answer from his legal team.
- New Day - Thursday, Mar 3, 22 @ 4:07 pm:
“Remember the vast majority of people serving in the General Assembly and broadly in public office have been doing the right thing and not breaking the law?
Is that the best we can do?”
Sadly, yes.
- Payback - Thursday, Mar 3, 22 @ 4:09 pm:
“…I think that they were deferring to the US attorney and to the federal authorities to allow them to make a case…” What phoney spin. Like the legislative committee knew that the USAO-NDIL was going to indict, so the state reps stood down from questioning Madigan?
First off, the federal authorities don’t tell politicians in Chicago what they are going to do. People like JB Pritzker and Chris Welch are like ants to the DOJ in Washington. And I don’t hear any concrete ideas from Pritzker about passing real enabling legislation, like statewide grand juries for public corruption cases that bypass local prosecutors.
- Donnie Elgin - Thursday, Mar 3, 22 @ 4:18 pm:
Welch’s statement about the Special Investigating Committee, is just him seeking cover and trying to get out in front of the stories about MJM’s alleged crimes. As leader, he has to say it but the disingenuousness is stong to a critical observer
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Mar 3, 22 @ 4:24 pm:
=== What phoney spin. Like the legislative committee knew that the USAO-NDIL was going to indict, so the state reps stood down from questioning Madigan?===
Narrator: there was a whole press conference in the summer of 2020 that made clear the USA was targeting Madigan.
Further, the “Arroyo Rule” was in full effect, the rule created for the purpose, without due process thru the courts, mind you, that indictment means removal.
Thus, both the ongoing investigation AND the “Arroyo Rule” made waiting out things by ANY branch of government a pretty solid position to have.
===First off, the federal authorities don’t tell politicians in Chicago what they are going to do.===
Again, please refer to the summer of 2020 USA presser.
===And I don’t hear any concrete ideas from Pritzker about passing real enabling legislation, like statewide grand juries for public corruption cases that bypass local prosecutors.===
Find your 60 and 30, or better 71 and 36… or more likely change the Illinois constitution to give powers outside what the Illinois AG can do.
- Watchmen - Thursday, Mar 3, 22 @ 4:52 pm:
===And I don’t hear any concrete ideas from Pritzker about passing real enabling legislation, like statewide grand juries for public corruption cases that bypass local prosecutors.===
Mike Madigan was just indicted, it seems like prosecutors have the tools needed. Th3 question is whether Illinois should ban legislators from having outside employment or take other steps that curtail the temptation of wrongdoing.
- Steve Polite - Thursday, Mar 3, 22 @ 4:52 pm:
=Remember the vast majority of people serving in the General Assembly and broadly in public office have been doing the right thing and not breaking the law?
Is that the best we can do?=
While perfection is the ultimate goal, sadly it is unachievable.
- Lincoln Lad - Thursday, Mar 3, 22 @ 5:24 pm:
I appreciate the Gov trying to be transparent and trying to get ahead of all this. Good for him, and I take no issue with anything he said.
- Cool Papa Bell - Thursday, Mar 3, 22 @ 5:33 pm:
@Oneman =Improve the quality, improve the educational facilities and then see an improvement in the exodus.=
You have a fair point. But that’s going to be addressed in Rebuild Illinois. WIU is supposed to get a new preforming arts center out of it. When it gets built, I think that will be the first new building at Western since the library was built in 1978.
The legacy of not investing in statewide higher ed goes back a long, long time in this state.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Mar 3, 22 @ 5:38 pm:
===This is a clearly thoughtful and likely scripted answer from his legal team.===
“And?”
To the post,
These answers are strong and not very evasive, and they are also for the record going forward, the public, political record, and in that framing these answers are strong to have as the base of any further inquiry that will continually happen on the subject.
No damage, not reset, no clarifications to these.
They work.
- Mary Poppins - Thursday, Mar 3, 22 @ 5:49 pm:
there was literally at least one meeting with the US attorneys office and special investigating committee, it’s not like there wasn’t communication https://www.chicagotribune.com/politics/ct-lausch-letter-madigan-investigative-committee-20200917-rtmtigz6ijdzxo27ynfoakjy5i-story.html
- Socially DIstant Watcher - Thursday, Mar 3, 22 @ 5:56 pm:
==Q: Since Mike Madigan has had a piece in legislation for the past 50 years, he helped write the modern constitution, what would you say to Illinois, to restore faith in the legislative process?==
What kind of extreme cynic asked this question? IPI and the Republicans have been blaming Madigan for everything under the sun, but to go back 50 years is extreme even for them. What reporter has guzzled that Kool Aid?
- Xeno - Thursday, Mar 3, 22 @ 8:02 pm:
Are we talking about the Institute for Principled Leadership in Public Service? And, is this the Brad McMillan who was District Chief of Staff to former Congressman and Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood, who lied to the FBI? Asking for a friend…