SPRINGFIELD — Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday took an aggressive stance against public corruption in his State of the State address, vowing that it’s time for Illinois to enact a revolving door policy to stop elected officials from “immediately start lobbying their former colleagues.”
Pritzker, too, said he wants to stop legislators from serving as paid lobbyists — a push that has grown stronger in light of federal investigations that have so far reeled in a state senator and a state representative.
The governor touted his first year legislative wins and said “anything is possible.” But he also spoke at length of the gigantic elephant in the room: public corruption.
Pritzker’s speech comes a day after former state Sen. Martin Sandoval pleaded guilty to bribery and tax charges.
“Now we have to work together to confront a scourge that has been plaguing our political system for far too long. We must root out the purveyors of greed and corruption — in both parties — whose presence infects the bloodstream of government,” Pritzker said. “It’s no longer enough to sit idle while under-the-table deals, extortion, or bribery persist. Protecting that culture or tolerating it is no longer acceptable. We must take urgent action to restore the public’s trust in our government. That’s why we need to pass real, lasting ethics reform this legislative session.”
Pritzker said most states have a revolving-door provision for legislators, and it’s time for Illinois to adopt one.
“Elected officials shouldn’t be allowed to retire and immediately start lobbying their former colleagues,” Pritzker said. “It’s wrong, and it’s got to stop.”
Alluding to the pressure he received to hire institutional Democrats as he began to build up his administration, the governor said he hired people “from all walks of life, all different backgrounds, who were diverse in gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, geography and life experience and whose only loyalty is to good ideas and good results.”
“And I took heat for it from some who had been here a very long time. Many were incredulous that I wasn’t just automatically hiring the same old faces that get jobs year in and year out,” Pritzker said, adding that “the old patronage system needs to die, finally and completely.”
Foreshadowing the spring legislative session, Pritzker said he wants to see an end to the cash bail system and an adoption of new clean energy legislation to reduce carbon pollution. He also said he wants the state to tackle the property tax crisis by having more than 7,000 units of government empowered to be consolidated or eliminated.
And he had a message for utility companies embroiled in federal investigations: “It’s time to put consumers and climate first. I’m not going to sign an energy bill written by the utility companies.”
The governor also spoke of some of his big first-year legislative wins involving healthcare, which included: capping the cost of insulin; expanding insurance coverage for mammograms; and reforming the state’s medical cannabis program.
Pritzker too said under his leadership, President Trump was put “on notice” that “Illinois will not be complicit in his shameful and draconian immigration policies.”
And in a shout-out to former Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, Pritzker said his administration has helped the state’s business climate: “We stopped bad-mouthing the state and started passing laws that make Illinois more attractive for businesses and jobs.”
He added: “I’m here to tell the carnival barkers, the doomsayers, the paid professional critics, the State of our State is growing stronger each day.”
