Pritzker Attack On Madigan Is About Re-Election Bid, Not Reform

CHICAGO — There seems to be only one reason Gov. J.B. Pritzker has started to publicly push for House Speaker Michael Madigan's ouster: He's got a re-election bid to worry about.

Remember, Pritzker didn't demand Madigan's resignation when the feds in July first outed a ComEd bribery scheme that aimed to gain legislative favors from Illinois' most powerful politician.

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The governor only claimed to be "furious," and said Madigan should answer questions about the federal allegations. But Pritzker stopped short of calling on the state Democratic Party boss to relinquish powerunless and until the bribery claims are proven true.

Since then, though, the billionaire governor sank $58 million of his own money into a failed attempt to convince voters to support his so-called "fair tax." Opponents of the tax change outmaneuvered Pritzker with an ad campaign with an anti-Madigan message that asked a simple question: Why would you trust Illinois politicians with more of your money?

After voters on Election Day overwhelmingly rejected the so-called "fair tax," Pritzker offered a weak, one-word "Yes," in support for U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin's assessment that it's time for Madigan to step aside as the Democratic Party chairman.

And last week, after the feds announced indictments against members of Madigan's inner circle that prosecutors had telegraphed were coming months earlier, Pritzker suddenly mounted a mutiny against the House speaker even though nothing much had changed.

Madigan hasn't been indicted. The allegations swirling around his political organization haven't been proven true. Madigan continues to deny any wrongdoing and has refused to step down as either party boss or House speaker.

Only Pritzker's political messaging on Madigan has undergone a metamorphosis.

And only a sucker would believe the governor's change of heart is reform-minded.

Whether the feds indict Madigan on corruption charges, Pritzker has to know his re-election bid has become vulnerable to the same anti-Madigan attacks that killed the "fair tax."

It appears that Pritzker hopes a staged rebellion against Madigan might provide political deniability against gubernatorial challengers who most certainly will remind voters the governor forked over $10 million to campaign funds controlled by Madigan and stacked his administration and state boards with cronies sent by the House speaker.

MORE ON PATCH: Did Pritzker's $10 Million, Clout Jobs Buy Madigan's Influence?

If the governor was serious in his call for an end to "pay-to-play" politics in Illinois, he wouldn't just be reading a scripted call for removing Madigan of his power at a news conference.

An act of actual reform would require Pritzker to come to terms with his symbiotic relationship with Madigan — the boss responsible for wrangling a Democratic supermajority to advance the governor's ambitious legislative agenda: legalized weed, online sports betting, clearing the way for a Chicago casino, boosting the gas tax to repair roads and even the constitutional amendment to change the state income tax structure that failed at the polls, in less than two years.

What could the billionaire do to make amends? So many things. Pritzker could demand back the $10 million funneled into Madigan-controlled political war chests.

He could scrub clean his administration of the bounty of bureaucrats hired on the recommendation of Madigan's clout list.

Pritzker could remove the heads of the Illinois Tollway Authority, whom he appointed after they were "strongly endorsed" by John Hooker, a Madigan insider indicted last week as part of the ComEd bribery scandal.

MORE ON PATCH: From Mailroom Clerk To Indicted Power Broker: A Clout Story

That might show the governor means it when he says the powerful House speaker deserves to be stripped of massive influence over every aspect of state government.

But Pritzker's newfound anti-Madigan stance isn't about good government at all.

It's political posturing in preparation for gubernatorial challenges that will most certainly point out that Pritzker's first act as governor was to team with Madigan to practice politics the Chicago Way — with an almost expected level of quid pro quo that the feds sometimes consider a crime.

Pritzker wrote the checks. He hired the cronies. He reaped legislative favor.

Sound familiar, ComEd?

Mark Konkol, recipient of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for local reporting, wrote and produced the Peabody Award-winning series, "Time: The Kalief Browder Story." He was a producer, writer and narrator for the "Chicagoland" docu-series on CNN, and a consulting producer on the Showtime documentary, "16 Shots."

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