Prairie State Wire

The Better Government Association is calling for a law to make more transparent “blind trusts” such as that Gov. J.B. Pritzker uses to invest in state contractors. 

“A law that establishes minimum standards for blind trusts might help cure some of the problems to which Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s trust fell prey,” the BGA said on Facebook. 

Pritzker’s blind trust and its stake in a major state contractor, Centene, has not been commented upon by the governor or anyone in his office. Centene is the Medicaid operator that made over $5 billion off the state in 2021. Despite his pledge to divest his portfolio of companies that made business with the state and put his remaining stocks into a blind trust, BGA noted that the governor "has not distanced himself from active involvement in the blind trust, according to a spokesman," Prairie State Wire reported.

Pritzker has met with several lobbyists from Centene. The company was under federal antitrust scrutiny due to its dominance in Illinois and other states. After Pritzker approved a swap that helped the company exchange accounts with other providers, its CEO wrote the governor an effusive thank you note. 

“I can’t thank you enough for your help in setting up the meeting between Governor Pritzker, yourself and Michael Neidorff, CEO of Centene Corporation,” Centene lobbyist Julie A. Curry said in a March 29, 2019 email to Illinois Deputy Gov. Sol Flores. 

The BGA reported Pritzker oversaw several events that affected the company’s financial health, "at least two meetings in 2019." 

Illinois has no law governing blind trusts. David Greising, president and CEO of the Better Government Association wrote of the need for one in an opinion piece in the Chicago Tribune. 

“Pritzker in 2019 held meetings with Centene Corp., a health insurer with more than $20 billion in Illinois state contracts since Pritzker took office — and one whose stock wound up in Pritzker’s trust portfolio in 2020. Altogether, Pritzker’s trust invested in 12 companies with state contracts, the BGA found: financial giants Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase, rail companies CSX, Union Pacific and BNSF and insurers United Healthcare and Centene among them,” Greising noted. “Three of the companies hired lobbyists who registered to lobby Pritzker directly, including at the same time the governor’s trust held their shares.”

BGA analyzed voucher payments and annual reports filed with the Illinois Department of Insurance and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners by Centene's subsidiary, Meridian Health Plan of Illinois, which has received $20.6 billion from its state Medicaid contracts and other health programs.