Latest Post | Last 10 Posts | Archives
Previous Post: Earned Income Credit by House and Senate districts
Next Post: Today’s map: Illinois showing overall improvement on AP test scores
Posted in:
* Greg Hinz takes a look at Gov. JB Pritzker’s China investments…
Arguably more pertinent are more recent investments by Pritzker personally. As reported in state disclosure documents, they include a membership interest of undisclosed size in funds run by Bridgewater Associates and Two Sigma Investments.
Bridgewater’s investments included money in the Chinese sovereign wealth fund, which effectively is the investment vehicle for the Chinese government. Two Sigma, in turn, was one of the largest investors in three large Chinese firms delisted by the New York Stock Exchange as per U.S. rules for being too close to the Chinese military.
Is that a problem? Though Griffin had an explanation for the security investment—he thought the firm could grow with Olympics contracts—it didn’t look good at first glance. Similarly, Pritzker doesn’t look very good if his money is in companies that can’t trade in the U.S. because they’re tight with the Chinese military.
According to the oppo report I saw, those two investments predate his blind trust. They showed up on his 2017 financial disclosure. The trust was formed in January of 2019.
* From the Pritzker campaign…
“Governor Pritzker is not invested in Hyatt or Marmon and hasn’t been for years. The governor has never had management authority in either company and is not involved in any investment decisions. Richard Irvin is once again grasping at straws to deflect the focus from his megadonor Ken Griffin’s shocking, intentional investments in gun manufacturers and ammunition companies, right-wing media and Russian propaganda, and the Chinese Communist Party’s anti-democratic surveillance efforts.
“Upon taking office, the governor voluntarily moved his remaining personally held assets into a blind trust, the terms of which prevent him from even communicating with the trustee let alone make any decisions over the trust’s assets. Likewise, Governor Pritzker voluntarily distanced himself from other pre-existing trusts of which he is a beneficiary, even though those trust arrangements did not give him any authority over individual asset investment decisions to begin with. It is ludicrous to compare a mutual fund that the governor has no control over to a direct investment in surveillance technology used by the Chinese Communist Party.”
When I pointed out that those two assets predated the blind trust’s formation, I was told this…
(T)hose trust arrangements did not give him any authority over individual assets investment decisions to begin with. You’re comparing an intentional decision [by Ken Griffin] to invest in a Chinese surveillance company with a hedge fund that [Pritzker] had no investment authority over.
* Meanwhile, a commenter summed up the oppo file on Richard Irvin being reported out by WTTW the past week or so…
Let’s put some other names to this story and see what folks think. Lori Lightfoot’s wife (or ex-wife, what’s it matter), Amy, takes an executive position with a developer who received $15 million in 2019 from the City towards the $100 million redevelopment of the former Michael Reese site. This firm is run by Lightfoot’s former campaign treasurer and the company is still doing business with the city and still drawing down from these City incentives.
Anyone think this might not be a front page story in Chicago?
You might also throw in the fact that the former campaign treasurer used to donate office space to Irvin’s campaign in his company building and donated money to his former law partner who is running for judge.
posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Apr 7, 22 @ 1:34 pm
Sorry, comments are closed at this time.
Previous Post: Earned Income Credit by House and Senate districts
Next Post: Today’s map: Illinois showing overall improvement on AP test scores
WordPress Mobile Edition available at alexking.org.
powered by WordPress.
==You might also throw in the fact that the former campaign treasurer used to donate office space to Irvin’s campaign in his company building. ==
Folks can make whatever excuses they want, but the pattern is clear: these firms were doing *a lot* to build connections with Mayor Irvin. The question is if the benefits that they subsequently received were because of these connections or because of genuine merit. But right now, it looks a lot like the kind of stuff that swirled around MJM before the McClain scheme really kicked it up a notch.
Comment by Arsenal Thursday, Apr 7, 22 @ 1:48 pm
Target rich environmentS it seems, and once the real money of $1-2 million a week on ads begins, the headlines and clips with these nuggets are going to flood the Illinois media markets.
Get it in a news source, cite that source in ads, and have the money to drill it in.
You’d think Proft and his phony newspapers and HAM Radio show (no disrespect to HAM operators anywhere, it’s that Proft’s ratings mirror yours) there’d be a greater insistence to push envelopes to highlight things, Uihlein cash to fuel it.
Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Apr 7, 22 @ 2:14 pm