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Pritzker: ‘Scaffolding of a deal’ in place for Bears bill; urges legislature to move faster

Thursday, Apr 16, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Chicago Bears CEO Kevin Warren said during our spring break that the team wouldn’t need to decide whether to move to Arlington Heights or Indiana until “late spring, early summer,” following months of pressure on the General Assembly to immediately pass incentive legislation. Today, at an unrelated news conference the governor was asked for an update…

Reporter: Was there an update from your meeting, your team’s meeting with Republicans yesterday for the Bears. Because we have a moral obligation to ask-

Pritzker: Every time you see me, right? I mean every time you see me.

Look, this is all going through the legislature at this point. I mean that we already have on the table a pretty strong and, you know, I would describe it as more than just an outline. It’s a scaffolding of a deal. Like everybody understands what the pieces of this are.

And now, as you know, with 177 members of the General Assembly they all need to be in on the discussion about it and understand why this is good for the state of Illinois, why it’s good for the people that live in their districts and so on. So I think that is part of why.

I mean, you’re focusing on one meeting because it happens to be with a Republican leader, I think. But the reality is these conversations, and trust me, I’ve talked to Republicans too, these conversations have been going on for some time now. I’m not sure why all the attention on this particular meeting, but, there’s going to be a lot more discussion that goes on.

I would like the legislature to move faster, just because I think that will be good for everybody to get this done. We have a lot of things on the schedule that need to get done before the end of May, including, importantly, a balanced budget that I put forward. So I’d like to get this done before we ever get to that point.

[From Rich: It’s kinda odd that he would say this because one of the scheduled participants told me that yesterday’s meeting with Republican legislators was postponed by the governor’s office.

…Adding… The meeting was eventually held. My apologies.]

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Reports: Pramaggiore, McClain convictions appear to be ‘on thin ice’ and ’shaky ground’ (Updated x2)

Tuesday, Apr 14, 2026 - Posted by Rich Miller

…Adding… Wow…

#BREAKING The federal appeals court in Chicago grants bond to ex-ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore and former longtime lobbyist Michael McClain, freeing them while they await a new trial. https://t.co/gHSmkMaqJo pic.twitter.com/W4Dz1vPRu9

— Jon Seidel (@SeidelContent) April 14, 2026

…Adding… Statement…

Statement from Anne Pramaggiore spokesman Mark Herr: https://t.co/4iquMMHNoj pic.twitter.com/v6awhogh08

— Jon Seidel (@SeidelContent) April 14, 2026

* Tribune…

Three years after the historic “ComEd Four” bribery trial, the convictions of former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore and lobbyist Michael McClain appeared to be on thin ice Tuesday as a federal appeals court indicated recent Supreme Court rulings could force a retrial.

During consolidated arguments for McClain and Pramaggiore before the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, the three-judge panel had tough questions for a government lawyer about how the conspiracy conviction could stand after the high court said “gratuities” given to elected officials with no direct tie to official actions are not illegal.

After that ruling, a district court judge threw out underlying bribery convictions in the “ComEd Four” case but left intact the main conspiracy count as well as guilty verdicts on other counts of falsifying ComEd’s books and records.

Paul Clement, the lead attorney for Pramaggiore, argued that there was no possible way for the court to know that the jury didn’t convict the defendants based on the government’s bribery theories — and therefore a new trial was inevitable.

At least two of the three judges on the panel appeared to agree.

* Sun-Times…

The feds’ landmark conviction against a former ComEd CEO and a longtime lobbyist seemed on shaky ground Tuesday, with the potential release of the pair seemingly on the table following arguments before an appeals court panel. […]

The judges wanted to know how they could be sure the jury didn’t convict based on an invalid bribery theory, given the emphasis on bribery during the trial.

“Here’s the problem,” Judge Thomas Kirsch asked. “When you charge the case and try the case as a bribery case, what’s to say the jury just didn’t consider the illegal bribery object and stop right there?”

Judge Joshua Kolar eventually asked about the potential release of Pramaggiore and McClain, who are serving two-year prison sentences, if a new trial is ordered. Pramaggiore attorney Paul Clement followed up by offering to file a motion for release Tuesday afternoon. The appeals court already rejected one such motion from Pramaggiore.

Kirsch told Clement, “I don’t think a new motion is necessary.”

Lots more in those links. Some play-by-play is here.

Co-defendants John Hooker and Jay Doherty didn’t appeal their convictions and both have been released to halfway houses, the Tribune also noted.

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