* As noted earlier in two different posts, the governor held his first press conference in well over a month today.

Before even taking questions, Pritzker called on Sen. Martin Sandoval to either resign from or be removed from the chairmanship of the Senate Transportation committee. “Corruption and self-dealing will not be tolerated,” he said. “Sometimes I have to say some difficult things to the leaders,” he said later in response to a question about whether he’d talked to Senate President John Cullerton about Sandoval.

* I told subscribers this morning that the governor’s office told me IDOT has received no federal subpoenas. Pritzker said this afternoon that neither the governor’s office nor IDOT had been served with subpoenas or search warrants. He also said this…

I know there’s reference [in the Sandoval search warrant] to some IDOT employees, but, as of now anyway, there’s no allegation, there’s no interviews that we’re aware of, that have been requested.

He also said he didn’t know who the unnamed IDOT officials were.

* He was asked about Sandoval’s involvement in the capital bill…

We were at odds with Sen. Sandoval in a number of very important ways. He, in fact, put forward a different capital bill than the one that was ultimately put through. And his was rejected, and amendments he put forward were rejected. So, I feel confident that the procedures that were gone through were good ones. But as I say, as we go through and those projects are reviewed we’re going to make sure and identify any challenges that may exist so that we’re doing the right thing and the entire thing’s on the up-and-up.

Sandoval introduced a “horizontal” capital bill weeks before the governor’s office was prepared to issue its own. As subscribers may recall, it caused some tension.

Pritzker later mentioned something I told subscribes about on Monday. Pritzker said there was opposition from IDOT over Sandoval’s pressure to use recycled asphalt shingles, a business dominated here by Mike Vondra.

* The first question out of the gate was about our Question of the Day, the $250,000 appropriated to the Village of McCook “for costs associated with upgrades to the municipal building.” Pritzker’s response…

All of the allocations that are made have to go through a rigorous process before they are paid out, before those projects are initiated. That is one that is in place. It of course means that we should make sure that it is transparent, that it’s done completely on the up-and-up and I am making sure that we’re reviewing all the policies and procedures so that any projects that get approved are approved with the utmost confidence that these are done in the best interest of taxpayers and nothing of the sort of corruption or self-dealing that has been alleged.

* He was also asked about his fractured leg, which has kept him from most public appearances…

For the last couple days anyway it’s felt pretty good.

He told reporters that they’ll be seeing him more now.