Pritzker Allegedly Profited from Investment in State Contractor
The Better Government Association reported Friday Governor JB Pritzker profited on an investment in a state contractor. Pritzker’s investment assets are managed by a blind trust.
Nonpartisan government watchdog the Better Government Association reported Friday billionaire Governor JB Pritzker profited off of a major state Medicaid contractor.
The purchase of stock in health insurance giant Centene Corp. was made on behalf of the billionaire governor by trustees at Northern Trust, appointed by Pritzker to independently manage his portfolio to separate those investment decisions from his role as the state’s most powerful elected official.
The investment in Centene — which collected more than $2.6 billion from state Medicaid contracts in the first half of 2021 alone — demonstrates the pitfalls of a blind-trust arrangement that still leaves the nation’s richest governor open to potential conflicts of interest.
The acquisition by Pritzker’s trust came despite his campaign pledge to purge his personal portfolio of companies holding state contracts. He also promised, as governor-elect, to make charitable contributions matching gains in his trust’s holdings from entities that hold state contracts.
Neither Pritzker representatives nor the managers of his trust would say how much the investment in Centene is worth to Pritzker’s bottom line. They also declined to say specifically when the stock purchase was made.
Asked whether the governor — after learning he became invested in one of the state’s largest contractors sometime during 2020 — took steps to recuse himself from decisions that directly affected the company’s finances, his spokeswoman said he has not.
“The governor is not involved in the contracting process related to Centene,” said Jordan Abudayyeh, Pritzker’s communication director. “There is nothing he would have to recuse himself from.”
She referred all other questions about the trust investment in Centene to Pritzker’s campaign officials.
Pritzker, who is running for re-election this year, declined to be interviewed about the blind trust or the decisions he or his administration made that benefited Centene at a time when his personal wealth may have been affected by those decisions.
A statement from Pritzker’s attorney, Marc Elias, threatened the BGA’s accusation is “potentially libelous.”
“Governor Pritzker did not personally make any investments, nor was he involved in any discussions at any time regarding any investments. His blind trust is just that: blind. He receives no information regarding potential investments and does not receive monthly or quarterly reporting that would outline what investments he has or their worth. The only information he receives is a ready-to-file Statement of Economic Interest which contains no values. He has no knowledge of the trust’s current assets. To suggest otherwise is not only inaccurate, but potentially libelous.”
His campaign provided the following information:
“Today’s story by the BGA ignores and misstates critical details and completely mischaracterizes Governor Pritzker’s blind trust. Despite multiple attempts at clarifying that the Governor has no role in any investment decisions and only receives the information required by Illinois law to file his Statement of Economic Interest—which the BGA’s own article acknowledges––the BGA nonetheless knowingly misrepresented the facts.
Governor Pritzker did divest his personal portfolio of companies holding state contracts and then removed himself from all investment decisions. To suggest he broke “his campaign pledge” is false. The trustees provide Governor Pritzker only with an annual report of his assets, which contains no values, in order to sign his Statement of Economic Interests pursuant to the Illinois Governmental Ethics Act. The BGA is suggesting that because the governor is following the law, he is doing something wrong. Most assuredly if the governor did not file a Statement of Economic Interests, the BGA would be writing about how he was violating the law.
The story also misleadingly attempts to connect the Governor to a current debate in Congress over barring federal elected officials from making stock purchases. What the story fails to note is that this effort is being undertaken because members of Congress are personally engaged in trading stock, which Governor Pritzker is not. Governor Pritzker does not personally make any investments, nor has he been involved in any discussions at any time regarding any investments since taking office.
While we are gratified that the BGA has admitted that Governor Pritzker has no involvement in investment decisions, it is unfortunate that despite several good faith discussions with the BGA, they pursued a story that is not based in fact, but rather speculation. We’ve come to accept this type of reporting as the norm from this outlet-–an organization that has accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars from Ken Griffin, most recently accepting $100,000 from him in their latest tax filing, and did not disclose this relationship when the organization’s President and CEO wrote a story revealing Mr. Griffin’s endorsement in the Republican primary for Governor.”
Pritzker spent more than $170 million of his own money on his 2018 campaign and has already pumped more than $100 million in his re-election effort.
Republicans, of course, pounced on the allegation.
Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia), who is running for Governor:
“The system of corruption in Springfield is fueled by elites like Pritzker, who buy elections only to sell out working families and taxpayers to benefit themselves. JB broke another campaign promise and should be ashamed of himself, and the Illinoisans suffering under his extreme, and liberal administration deserve answers through a thorough and independent investigation. In the meantime, JB’s “blind trust” should immediately sell every conflicted, self-enriching stock he has and donate the money to relieve the families his poor policies and lack of leadership have impacted.”
Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin, who is running for Governor:
“It’s pretty clear the Governor’s blind trust can see perfectly well, and the people of Illinois deserve to know the extent of Pritzker’s personal financial benefit off one of the largest state contracts. This story continues to raise serious concerns not only of the governor's judgment but also his continued enabling of the same kind of Madigan corruption that's been plaguing this state for decades.”
Many watchdogs have said the state’s economic interest statements filed by politicians is far too vague to find a clear picture on how much a lawmaker owns and trades. Often, they say ethics measures passed last year by the General Assembly don’t go far enough to strengthen the process.
