Will County Gazette

Former Congressional candidate Rick Laib couldn’t think of a more inappropriate time for Gov. J.B. Pritzker to be pushing to eliminate court-ordered federal oversight of state government hiring practices in the executive branch.

“Simply saying the oversight is no longer needed is not a persuasive argument,” Laib told the Will County Gazette. “I would like to hear the justification and rationale, particularly in light of federal probes for corruption in Illinois politics.”

None of that has stopped the governor from insisting that the safeguards put in place by the Shakman Decrees instituted nearly four decades ago are no longer needed.

Laib, who lost out in his 11th Congressional District bid against U.S. Rep. Bill Foster (D-Illinois), sums it up as Pritzker just being Pritzker.

“I cannot speculate as to the specific motivation of the governor for pushing this agenda,” he said. “We do know, intentional or unintentional, the governor has shown that he is willing to operate outside the boundaries of restraints. We should not be surprised that he prefers to operate without restraint.”

Laib argues he doesn’t have to look far for examples of the kind of corruption he’s convinced is now running rampant in Springfield, pointing to the federal corruption probe longtime House Speaker Mike Madigan now finds himself at the center of. ComEd has admitted its involvement in a pay-for-play scheme where all the perks were allegedly steered to him in exchange for favorable legislation.  

And then there are the governor’s own troubles, including the federal investigation looking into him avoiding $331,000 in property taxes by ripping the toilets out of a Gold Coast mansion he owns.

“I am open to hearing the governor's solutions for resolving excessive cronyism in Illinois,” he said. “For the time being, there are parameters in place to restrain it. Outside of hearing his suggestions for substitutions, we have good reason to leave them in place.”