* Let’s start with a relatively mild critique via the Illinois News Network…

Despite paying back the $331,000 he got in property tax breaks, Gov. J.B. Pritzker insisted his family did nothing wrong when it had toilets removed from a spare mansion to have it deemed uninhabitable.

When WBEZ radio broke the story last week that Pritzker and his wife were under federal criminal investigation for removing toilets from the Gold Coast mansion to get a tax break, the governor was asked whether he thought it was political, or if it would derail his push for a progressive income. He explained Tuesday in Springfield why he paid the money back last year even though he followed the rules.

“We simply wanted to avoid distraction during the course of the campaign,” Pritzker said in his office. “As I say, any review of this will show the rules were followed. During the campaign, it was clear that people were trying to make this a political issue, so we just wanted to get it out of the way.”

State Sen. Jason Plummer, R-Edwardsville, said the explanation didn’t make sense.

“I don’t know many people, even billionaires, that would write three-hundred-plus-thousand dollar checks if they felt like they didn’t do anything wrong,” Plummer said. […]

“You’re going to have people talking about ‘other folks need to pay their fair share, other folks need to carry and even heavier tax burden,’ but then there’s these various schemes to avoid taxes and I find that somewhat hypocritical and very concerning,” Plummer said.

* Here’s Plummer in the Metro East Sun, a Proft paper…

“I find the hypocrisy to be stunning,” he said. “I mean you have the governor, a multi-billionaire, under federal investigation in a case the inspector general has characterized as a scheme to skip out on tax payments at the same time he wants to preach about paying more taxes to everyone else.”

To the question of whether or not the ongoing scandal will impact Pritzker’s ability to govern, Plummer thinks it’s too early to know.

“I think everyone needs to wait and let the investigation play itself out, but I think the governor really needs to rethink his habit of preaching on taxes,” he said. “The hard-working people of Illinois are already paying more than their fair share. It’s people like him that are scheming to get out of paying at all.”

* From the same outlet…

Illinois State Rep. Charlie Meier (R-Okawville) sees the list of potential victims in the property tax scandal now dogging Gov. J.B. Pritzker as being endless.

“Everyone and their budgets, including our fire and policemen, are impacted by this because it’s our tax revenue that pays for everything,” Meier, the longtime representative for the 108th District, told Metro East Sun. “If it turns out that he’s been trying not to pay taxes of his own while trying to raise them on everyone else, it would really be sad.”

* Same network, different paper…

State Rep. Chris Miller (R-Oakland) fails to see how Gov. J.B. Pritzker can continue to have the nerve to ask Illinois voters for a blank check under the present circumstances.

“You would think his being under federal investigation would significantly reduce the trust of an already skeptical electorate,” Miller told the East Central Reporter. “Anytime you have criminal liability hanging over your head, it can’t be seen as a good thing, even among the people that are your strongest supporters.” […]

“It just seems like justice doesn’t get meted out very often when it comes to people with money, power and prestige like the governor,” said Miller, elected last November to represent the 110th District. “Truthfully, I would be shocked if anything comes of this on a legal front. That’s why it’s so important that voters step up and be the checks and balances we need to protect the system.”

* Ramping it up a notch in the same publishing network…

“We knew about this a year ago and Democrats wanted to ignore it,” [Rep. Dan Caulkins, R-Decatur] said. “It speaks to the governor’s character that he would knowingly participate in something like that. I think it’s a very unseemly thing to do and further makes Illinois the laughingstock of the country.”

* A bit more fire from another Eastern Bloc member…

Newly elected Illinois State Rep. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia) has a hard time believing some of the things that pass for normalcy in Springfield.

“This news should absolutely impact the way Gov. Pritzker governs,” Bailey told the SE Illinois News of reports that Gov. J.B. Pritzker and several family members including his wife remain under federal probe stemming from alleged acts taken in an attempt to lower their property tax bill. “Instead, you’ve got the whole Democratic party still supporting him as if nothing’s happened and this corruption is all part of the lifestyle they live.”

Hey, at least he said “Democratic” party, although I figure he was probably misquoted /s

* They even talked to former Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton)…

“The Cook County inspector general concluded this was a scheme to defraud,” Ives said. “You read the whole report, and it’s obvious that they falsified documents. People need to know when Gov. Pritzker cheated on his property taxes he didn’t just impact his neighbor. He cheated on everybody.”

Ives said she finds it ironic that news of Pritzker’s alleged transgressions comes at a time when he is pushing a tax hike in the form of a graduated income tax on some of the state’s most affluent residents.

“It definitely calls into question his wanting to raise taxes on everyone else when he cheats on his own tax bill,” she said. “I think this hurts his ability to get his graduated tax across and if he is prosecuted it will affect his ability to run the state.”

* But the pièce de résistance is from Rep. Allen Skillicorn (R-McHenry)…

“I hope Gov. Pritzker and his wife get a pair of shiny, new handcuffs when this is done,” he said.

* Related…

* Rep. Ugaste wants Springfield to focus on state’s most immediate problems, despite distractions

* Rep. Grant weighs in on Pritzker probe