McHenry Times

Federal prosecutors have requested 5 months' worth of files from the Cook County assessor’s office related to two 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 gubernatorial candidate Pritzker under former Cook County Assessor Joe Berrios, due partly to disconnected commodes that stunted a remodeling job. Pritzker reportedly reimbursed Cook County the $330,000 tax break two years ago.

Joe Ptak, a political activist from Island Lake, issued the following statement:

“What makes this interesting is the hypocrisy of it all. Back in May, Pritzker hired 35 of Michael Madigan's selected people that he wanted appointed to specific positions and one of them was in a ComEd supervisory position. Let’s not act like this is a great revelation. It is totally ludicrous," he said. "There's a reason why people are leaving Illinois and moving out. The most tragic part about it is we're talking about Americans being forced to move away from their families, their friends, their neighbors all because of incompetent, corrupt Democrats. There’s no other way to put it.”

The inquiry into Gov. Pritzker’s properties is part of a larger federal investigation into a years-long bribery plot involving Commonwealth Edison (ComEd), in which Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, head of the Illinois Democratic Party, has been implicated. 

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

“The FBI has got an inkling that there's more to Pritzker than meets the eye because there's a huge paper trail that's being discovered and unearthed throughout the state,” Ptak told the McHenry Times. “It turns out there's more than a dozen companies that have been involved with Madigan and I’m sure Pritzker's got his fingerprints on stuff.”

Approximately $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.

“Attorney General William Bar is all about restoring the integrity of the justice department and if it were Republicans, I'm sure he'd be going after Republicans because we have to re-establish the law in our country and also respect for the justice department,” said Ptak in an interview. “Now that the Obama administration officials are no longer around, now is the time to get it done and God help us if Joe Biden is elected. The repercussions around the world will be catastrophic. We don't even want to go there.”