Dupage Policy Journal

Illinois State Rep. Amy Grant (R-Wheaton) wonders how Gov. J.B. Pritzker is able to focus on the task at hand with all the recent distractions.

“I don’t think it looks all that great [for him], and these next four weeks are very important in the legislature before the end of the session,” Grant told the DuPage Policy Journal. “He has to get legislators to help pass a lot of bills he was counting on for revenue like the graduated income tax and the legalized marijuana proposal. He promised in his campaign he was going to have a spending plan and that needs revenue.”

But recent news that Pritzker and his wife are still under federal review stemming from allegations of a property tax scheme must be weighing heavily on the new governor, elected last November. According to WBEZ Radio, federal officials continue to probe the couple’s role in a plot where they are alleged to have ordered workers to remove all the toilets from one of their Gold Coast properties in order to have it declared uninhabitable and save some $331,000 in taxes.

Several media outlets have reported the assessed market value of the home tumbled from $6.25 million to just over $1 million after changes that Cook County Inspector General Patrick Blanchard has deemed as a “scheme to defraud.”

“If he is guilty of those things, he should be charged like any other person would be,” Grant said. “I don’t know who did what, but if he and his wife or relatives took out a lower property tax assessment they should be charged.”

Through his attorney, Marc Elias of the Perkins Coie law firm, Pritzker has denied all wrongdoing, adding that neither he nor his wife have been contacted by law enforcement related to the investigation.