* The governor spoke with reporters in Chicago today. Here’s the raw audio…
* Most of the questions were McClain-related…
This McClain email is emblematic of a culture that has been poisonous in Springfield for far too long. Those who protect the culture, those who tolerate it, those who promote it, well, they’ll have to answer for their role in it. […]
If an investigator contacts someone and asks them to cooperate, they should cooperate. Not put a smug grin on their face and laugh about not cooperating like Mike McClain did. And furthermore, anyone who thinks that it’s OK to talk about these things [rape and ghost payrolling] like they’re in a crime syndicate doesn’t belong in Springfield anymore. We need change.
* There was also this exchange…
Reporter 1: Are you saying that if the feds asked Mike McClain to cooperate against Mike Madigan that he should?
Pritzker: I think anybody that is interviewed by an investigatory body should be forthcoming with the information that they have. […]
Every person in Springfield needs to take a good hard look at themselves and ask what their role has been in creating this culture, the availability in engaging in corruption, the culture that I’m talking about that’s so poisonous. […]
Whether you’re a leader, or a member, or a lobbyist or anybody engaged in that Springfield culture, you gotta ask yourself what direction you’re taking things, or what you’ve done to contribute to it or what you’re doing to alleviate the concerns that voters and the rest of us have about this culture and the corruption.
* Last excerpt…
I think there is a gathering storm for people who are headed in the wrong direction, the people who created this culture, the people who are contributing to it. As you know there are investigatory bodies involved just in this McClain email, including a former federal prosecutor our OEIG, including a prosecutor leading the state police… including a prosecutor in Champaign County that are all engaged in rooting out what’s involved in this particular matter with Mike McClain. And then there’s the broader matter which obviously the federal government and the FBI are looking into. So we’re going to know a lot more in short order. […]
Nobody belongs in Springfield who is engaging in this kind of corruption.
