Will County Gazette

Federal prosecutors have requested 5 months’ worth of files from the Cook County assessor’s office related to mansions that Gov. J.B. Pritzker owns on N. Astor Street and a $330,000 property tax break, according to a July 17 Chicago Sun-Times story.

As widely reported, the tax break was provided to Pritzker under former Cook County Assessor Joe Berrios due partly to disconnected commodes that stunted a remodeling job.

The U.S. Attorney’s office has since asked current assessor, Fritz Kaegi, to release all communication between Pritzker and Berrios’ staff dating back to 2012, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Will County Republican Chair George Pearson issued the following statement:

“This is the problem with complete Democrat rule in the state of Illinois and the tax payers wanting more money and funding for education. Well, how about people like Pritzker pay his fair share of the property taxes? How about companies like Walgreens, ComEd and AT&T actually pay their fair share of property taxes so that we're not putting all this burden on just the residents? Instead of giving this money to all these crooked politicians, how about you put it into the areas where it's supposed to be like real education? We’re not having these conversations because the people that control where the funds are going are the same people telling us, ‘You're making too much money. $250,000 makes you wealthy in Illinois.’ No, it doesn't.”

The inquiry into Gov. Pritzker’s properties is part of a larger federal investigation into an alleged years-long bribery plot that includes Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) in which Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, who is head of the Illinois Democratic Party, has been implicated, according to media reports. Although Pritzker reimbursed Cook County the $330,000 tax break two years ago, Pearson said the move doesn’t make a difference.

“I know Pritzker jumped out while he was running for office and paid the fees but now he's pushing to increase our income taxes on top of the fact that this is a man who has most of his money sheltered in off shore accounts. He's got property in Wisconsin and Florida, which are low property tax, Republican-run States but he's doing everything he can to increase the income taxes here in Illinois and avoid paying the outrageous property taxes. As governor, he should be trying to lower the taxes for everyone.”

Pearson further noted that he thinks Pritzer is a hypocrite for participating in Black Lives Matter protests.

“We keep trying to divide everything up here in this country by race and then we see the governor out their marching with Black Lives Matter,” Pearson told the Will County Gazette. “If black lives actually mattered, perhaps Pritzker should push to reduce the overburdened tax property that is destroying black wealth in Illinois. He's a hypocrite. He's a liar and a tax cheat. He should be indicted and removed from office.”

The Chicago Sun-Times reported that $1.3 million was allegedly paid to individuals associated with Madigan, and records disclose that ComEd agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors. Madigan is not identified by name in the charging documents, released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, but "Public Official A" is believed to be Madigan who has been in office since 1971.

Pearson did not spare any words on what he felt should be their fate.

“This is organized gangster nonsense,” he said in an interview. “We worry about criminal activity in the streets but we've got a plethora of it sitting right in our own state government. So, what do I think? Lock’em all up and get back the money that Illinoisians have lost. Lock’em up. That's my statement because when all of them have to start going to jail, you better believe they'll start singing like a bunch of songbirds.”