Prairie State Wire

The Illinois Republican Party slammed Gov. J.B. Pritzker for supporting House Speaker Mike Madigan (D-Chicago) as Democratic lawmakers continue calls for Madigan's resignation.

The Republican Party alleges that Pritzker is afraid to force Madigan to resign before an indictment, then calls for Pritzker to resign will occur if a federal investigation regarding alleged property tax fraud continues, the party said in a news release. The GOP believes that is why Pritzker keeps fumbling when he's asked questions about Madigan.

Pritzker recently struggled with answering questions about if he considered Madigan a political ally, Republicans claimed in the news release. He also fumbled when asked about why he changed his standards regarding corrupt officials and when they need to resign from their positions of leadership.

Pritzker called for former State Sen. Marty Sandoval to resign last year from his position as the Senate Transportation Committee chairman before his indictment.

Earlier this year, Pritzker informed Capitol Fax's Rich Miller that there needed to be clear evidence of targeting from criminal investigators for public officials to step aside from their positions, Republicans said in the news release. He then changed his mind after Madigan was named in the investigation by the U.S. attorney, saying Madigan should only resign if the allegations are proven true. 

Last week, Mary Ann Ahern of NBC 5 asked Pritzker why he changed his standards of resignation, to which he replied that his standard was the same as what the Republican leaders have stated, the GOP said in the news release.

"Well, I have been clear that, you know, when there is a raid, when there is an indictment, you know I have called for people to step down from their positions, or to resign," Pritzker said, according to the Republican news release. "So I have said the same thing. I’ve said that, you know, if you know if these allegations are true, the speaker should, is going to be required to resign, in my view. By the way, that’s the same thing that the Republican caucus leaders in the General Assembly said when they responded."

The GOP said that the Republican Party has since changed its position, calling for Madigan to resign immediately. The party also noted that Pritzker also took the position that Madigan needed to resign if there was a raid, but there have already been several raids, as the Chicago Tribune published, Republicans said in the news release.

In May 2019 alone there were at least four raids that involved Madigan or ComEd.

The party believes that if a federal raid is the new standard for resignation, Pritzker needs to answer why the previous raids are not enough to meet that standard.